Malawi youth summit puts spotlight on entrepreneurship, investment and girls’ education
More than 1,200 young people from across Malawi have gathered in Lilongwe for the 2026 National Youth Summit, a three-day event hosted by the National Youth Council of Malawi under the theme “Accelerating Progress: Reflecting on Impact, Expanding Prospects for Youth Development in Malawi.”
Delivering the keynote address, Standard Bank Malawi chief executive Phillip Madinga challenged young people to develop enterprises capable of solving problems at both community and national level, arguing that many of the technologies and businesses that will ultimately transform Malawi do not yet exist — placing significant responsibility on young people to innovate.
On funding, Madinga commended government for allocating more than K22.9 billion to the Youth and Women Empowerment Fund, and said financial institutions remained willing to support promising startups, provided they represented sound investment opportunities.
In his opening remarks, guest of honour and Deputy Minister of Natural Resources Chipiliro Mpinganjira urged young people to prioritise entrepreneurship and job creation over reliance on formal employment.
Speaking at the summit, held at the Bingu International Convention Centre, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Malawi Rebecca Adda-Dontoh called for increased and more integrated investment in young people, saying Malawi needed to move from commitments to tangible impact. She said young people required ecosystems combining funding with mentorship, market access, infrastructure, skills development and supportive policy environments.
Adda-Dontoh noted that while Malawi had numerous successful youth-led pilot programmes, there remained a pressing need to scale up such initiatives into sustainable businesses and decent jobs. She pointed to the UN Youth Innovation Fund 2026 as one mechanism supporting youth-led solutions across agriculture, tourism, mining, manufacturing and digital innovation.
She challenged leaders to move beyond simply consulting young people, urging them instead to involve youth as co-creators in decision-making — including through representation on boards, parliamentary committees, policy labs and investment committees. “Design with youth, not for youth,” she said.
Adda-Dontoh also encouraged young people to embrace innovation and lifelong learning, while calling on leaders to remain accountable on transparency and opportunity. She reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to supporting youth development in alignment with Malawi’s 2063 development agenda, saying the country’s future was being shaped by the choices and actions of young Malawians today.
Elsewhere at the summit, 16-year-old Duwana Muhammad, from Mangale Primary School in Mangochi, called on government to address the barriers preventing girls from completing their education. Muhammad, who was the only girl at her school to sit the Standard 8 examinations, said she had faced pressure to marry but had remained focused on her studies.
Speaking at a National Youth Council of Malawi meeting in Lilongwe, she urged government to expand free education opportunities for vulnerable learners up to university level, and appealed to parents to support girls in completing their education rather than pushing them into early marriage.
