The Green Africa Youth Organisation’s Eco-Club Campus Chapters have launched initiatives to tackle unemployment, poverty, and ecological deterioration through a green entrepreneurship conference.

The Developing Youth Ecopreneurs Conference (DYEC) has engendered innovations from young people in Africa to take action in addressing climate change and waste concerns through entrepreneurship.

The conference served as a transformative platform where young people from Ghana and other countries showcased their innovative projects aimed at solving some of the pressing concerns of climate change and waste management.

It offered the young people an opportunity to build networks, foster collaborations, and generate solutions for a sustainable future.

The second edition of the conference was held at KNUST under the theme "Bridge, Build, Bankable: An Intergenerational Dealroom for Youth-Led Climate Enterprises for Africa’s Green Transition." It drew over 600 in-person participants who engaged in keynote speeches, panel discussions, and interactive sessions.

Addressing the conference, Baliqees Salaudeen-Ibrahim, Climate Director at GAYO, said ecopreneurship is unfolding in a rapidly changing world where challenges are growing more complex and that tackling these issues requires bold, innovative solutions.

She explained that the theme frames DYEC 2026 as a platform to connect young climate innovators with investors and mentors, strengthen their capacity to scale, and prepare their ventures for investment to advance Africa’s green transition.

She also said that the event showcased the potential of young people to drive positive change and advance a more environmentally responsible future.

Baliqees Salaudeen-Ibrahim revealed that the informal economy is a major source of employment in local communities. Building on this, DYEC focused on strengthening capacity, fostering engagement, and promoting innovative solutions to environmental challenges at the community level.

“At GAYO, we view the informal sector as a critical driver of employment in local communities. Across Africa, it currently accounts for the majority of jobs, spanning agriculture to waste management. However, the sector is often perceived as low-status and overlooked. We are working to shift this perception, particularly among young people, by promoting innovative approaches that enhance the sector’s appeal and address challenges related to waste, food waste, and climate change,” she stated.

She added that in order to achieve this, the government is the key stakeholder to strengthen youth entrepreneurship, especially in the climate space.

She noted that achieving this goal requires the government to take a leading role in advancing youth eco-entrepreneurship, particularly in the climate sector, and said the NGO is committed to supporting these efforts.

Ghanaian musician and climate advocate Kwame Nsiah-Apau, known professionally as Okyeame Kwame, said that climate change is not a doomsday prophecy but a chance for young people to drive solutions and build internationally competitive businesses.

He added that global markets are already prepared to support such ventures.

"Climate change is not a doomsday prophecy but an opportunity for young people to turn it around and build internationally competitive businesses. The world is ready for such ventures. There is money to be made from addressing the damage already done: preventing further harm generates revenue, recycling waste generates revenue, documenting it through photography generates revenue, and creating content and innovation around it will also generate revenue," he stated.

Kwame Nsiah-Apau called on African governments and policymakers to demonstrate the political will needed to enact supportive policies and invest in eco-entrepreneurship. He said such action would draw more young people into the sector, expand opportunities within it, and help address climate change issues.

He further urged citizens across African countries to take personal responsibility for actions that worsen climate change.

"Meaningful progress requires both top-down policy reforms and bottom-up behavioural change, noting that individual choices around consumption, waste disposal, and energy use collectively shape the continent’s environmental trajectory."

Following a tour of the conference exhibition, Minister for Labour, Jobs and Employment. Abdul-Rashid Hassan Pelpuo said the event presents young people with an opportunity to challenge prevailing constraints by applying their knowledge to convert waste materials into productive resources.

He commended GAYO, the youth-led advocacy group, for establishing a dynamic platform that enables young innovators to present and scale their ideas.

He noted that such initiatives are vital for nurturing homegrown solutions and bridging the gap between youthful creativity and real-world environmental and economic challenges.

"These are young people challenging the circumstances they found themselves in by using their knowledge to transform what is termed 'waste' into productive resources. GAYO’s work directly addresses youth employment opportunities, and this conference serves as a hub for innovation. I commend GAYO for its efforts," said the minister.

He pledged the government’s support for eco-entrepreneurship through the Green Jobs Initiative and urged participants, particularly Ghanaians, to scale up their innovative ideas beyond the conference.

The DYEC 2026, funded by the GAYO, UIM Fund, and KNUST, offered youth environmental leaders a unique platform to present their innovative projects to compete for financial support to help turn their ideas into reality and to make tangible impacts on their communities.