From Displacement to Industry leaders: Amahoro Coalition Fellows Reframing Africa’s Economic Future at APD 2026

This week, conversations about industrialisation, trade and the future of Africa’s single market echoed through packed halls at the Africa Prosperity Dialogues 2026 (APD 2026) in Accra, Ghana. But among policymakers, investors and business leaders, two voices stood out, not only for what they said, but for what they represented.

Amos Kwizera and Agwu Kalu Ibe from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Nigeria respectively are Amahoro Coalition Fellows whose journeys from displacement and marginalisation to enterprise and industry leadership are reshaping how Africa, and the world, thinks about opportunity. Speaking on different panels, the two entrepreneurs challenged an outdated narrative: refugees and displaced youth are not just job seekers; they are solution creators.

During the panel “Owning the AfCFTA Narrative: Empowering Youth as Solution Creators in Driving Africa’s Industrialisation,” Amos Kwizera spoke movingly from lived experience.

A refugee for more than a decade, Kwizera understands firsthand the systemic barriers that often keep displaced people locked out of economic opportunities. That is why he co-founded Kivu Society Corporation (KSC), a youth-led enterprise in Eastern DRC that processes locally sourced agricultural produce from Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda into non alcoholic beverages.

“Value addition is critical for industrialisation across the continent,” emphasised Kwizera. “In value-addition, multiple economic players ranging from farmers to packaging manufacturers get better return for their products and jobs are created in the process”.

In one of Africa’s most fragile regions, KSC is doing what industrial policy discussions often describe in theory: value addition, cross-border trade and job creation. The company has already reached more than 500,000 consumers and created 101 jobs, 70 percent of which are reserved for internally displaced persons.

Amos’s message at APD 2026 was clear: industrialisation is not only about factories and infrastructure – it is also about who gets to participate. Youth affected by displacement are not just labour; they are entrepreneurs building industries that link local production to regional markets.

For me AfCFTA doesn’t mean unregulated movement, It means ease of transiting goods from one country to another, lower taxes and better infrastructure

Amos Kwizera

In another session under the theme “Africa Without Borders: The Digital and Creative Economy as Drivers of Africa’s Single Market and Global Soft Power,” Agwu Kalu Ibe brought a different but equally powerful perspective from Nigeria.

Ibe is the founder of LevelUp Recyclers LTD, a waste management company turning plastic pollution into an economic opportunity for internally displaced women and youth. Through collection, processing, upcycling and sales, LevelUp converts plastic waste into fiberboards used in construction and furniture. A proof that environmental sustainability and economic inclusion can grow together.

For Ibe, a borderless Africa means accessing markets in the continent, scaling circular economy businesses and creating dignified work for people often left out of formal employment systems.

Ibe iterated that as it is now, even for passport holders, it is still hard to travel from one country to another in the continent. That difficulty is hundred times more for the displaced communities who cannot access formal identification documents.

“Borderless Africa would mean I can trade in Ivory Coast, Cameroon and anywhere in the continent and process payments real time,” expounds Ibe. “It means access to identification and travel documents for everyone including the displaced community”.

What makes both Kwizera and Ibe’s presence at APD 2026 significant is not only the scale of their impact, but the perspective they bring into high-level economic conversations. Too often, discussions about refugees and displaced populations happen without them in the room. At APD 2026, these Amahoro Coalition Fellows were not case studies. They were industry builders, employers and innovators contributing directly to Africa’s prosperity agenda.

“Africa’s future is borderless when our youth turn creativity into currency, displacement into mobility, and AfCFTA into a launchpad for global soft power,” says Ibe.

Both fellows agreed on the challenges facing young people in the continent: access to finance; infrastructure to transport raw materials and finished goods; practical education system. Their enterprises show that displacement does not erase talent or ambition; youth-led businesses can thrive even in fragile contexts; and inclusion is not charity, it is mutually beneficial economic partnership that benefits both displaced communities and the private sector.

The presence of Kwizera and Ibe at APD 2026 is also a reflection of the Amahoro Coalition Fellowship’s mission: to support forcibly displaced and conflict-affected entrepreneurs as leaders, innovators and economic actors.

“The Amahoro Coalition Fellowship has been a cornerstone for our business,” enthused Kwizera. “Not only did I access resources, but I have learnt how to pitch for my business. Not to add the rich network I have formed through the fellowship”. Ibe says that the fellowship was the shoulders he needed to stand on for bigger impact.