Africa Industrialization Week 2025 Holds November 17–21 in Kampala

The African Union Commission (AUC), in collaboration with the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives (MTIC), will convene the Africa Industrialization Week (AIW) 2025 from November 17–21, 2025, at the Munyonyo Speke Resort Hotel in Kampala, Uganda.

The week-long series of high-level events will bring together ministers responsible for industry and trade, First Ladies from AU Member States, heads of Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), UN agencies, private-sector leaders, academia as well as youth and women entrepreneurs driving Africa’s industrial transformation.

This year’s commemoration integrates three flagship events — the Africa Industrialization Week (AIW), the 4th African Women in Processing Forum (AWIP), and the Africa Youth Start-Ups Forum (AYSF) — creating a unified platform to advance inclusive and sustainable industrial development across the continent.

According to the AUC, the 2025 edition of AIW underscores Africa’s collective commitment to building a resilient manufacturing base, empowering women and youth entrepreneurs, as well as deepening regional value chains under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework.

AIW 2025 builds on the AU’s ongoing efforts to implement the Action Plan for Accelerated Industrial Development of Africa (AIDA) and the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA III), both central to achieving Agenda 2063’s Aspiration 1: A Prosperous Africa based on Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development.

Thus, AIW 2025 will explore practical strategies to strengthen Africa’s manufacturing and processing capacity, promote innovation and technology adoption, and scale up infrastructure investment to drive competitiveness under the AfCFTA.

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AIW 2025 Expected Outcomes

• Strengthened inter-state and regional coordination on industrial policy.
• Enhanced investment and intra-African trade in industrial sectors, particularly among women and youth.
• Identification of replicable industrialization models and best practices.
• Actionable policy recommendations to accelerate sustainable industrialization, innovation, and regional integration.

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Africa Youth Start-Ups Forum (AYSF) 2025

Running from November 18–20, the Africa Youth Start-Ups Forum (AYSF) will spotlight youth-led innovation and entrepreneurship as the driving force of Africa’s future industries.
Under the theme “Igniting Youth Innovation: AI, Fintech, and Product Development for Africa’s Industrial Transformation,” the Forum is jointly organized by the AUC, MTIC, and the United Nations Association of Uganda (UNAU).

AYSF 2025 will provide a dynamic platform for young innovators, investors, policymakers, and financiers to connect and accelerate youth-led industrialization through mentorship, investor linkages, and policy dialogue.

The Forum aims to:

• Promote youth-led innovation leveraging AI, Fintech, and emerging technologies in industrial value chains.
• Facilitate access to finance through Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Government (B2G) matchmaking sessions with DFIs, venture capitalists, and angel investors.
• Build youth capacity on industrial standards, certification, and product development for AfCFTA markets.
• Launch the African Union Start-Up Network, a continental mechanism to coordinate innovation ecosystems and investment support.
• AYSF 2025 will also feature reverse pitches, fireside chats, demo days, and an innovation marketplace, positioning Africa’s youth as catalysts for inclusive, digital industrial growth.

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4th African Women in Processing Forum (AWIP) 2025

The 4th African Women in Processing Forum (AWIP) will run concurrently with AIW 2025 from November 17–21, bringing together women entrepreneurs, policymakers, financiers, and industry champions to address gender gaps in industrial value chains.

Themed: “Accelerating Development of Women-Led Industrial Parks for an Inclusive Transformation under AfCFTA,” AWIP 2025 will celebrate the growing leadership of African women in value addition, manufacturing, and trade.

Organised by the AUC, African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), and partners, AWIP 2025 will feature policy roundtables, industrial exhibitions, and the AWIP Innovation Awards, spotlighting women who are driving transformation across sectors such as agro-processing, textiles, essential oils, and manufacturing.

Key highlights include:

• Policy and partnerships roundtable on scaling women’s industrial parks across Africa.
• Panel discussions with DFIs, AfDB, Afreximbank, and UNIDO on financing women-led enterprises.
• Training sessions on digitization, industrial competitiveness, and AfCFTA market access.
• First Ladies’ High-Level Dialogue on advancing gender-responsive industrialization.
• AWIP Innovation Awards and Gala Dinner celebrating excellence in women-led industries.

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AIW 2025: A Platform for Action

Against this backdrop, the AU Commission believes AIW 2025 will serve as a continental call to action to mobilize investment, empower youth and women entrepreneurs to drive Africa’s industrial transformation through innovation, value addition, and sustainable partnerships.

Recall the 2024 Africa Industrialization Week, held in Addis Ababa under the theme “Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI), Green Industrialization, and Intellectual Property for Africa’s Transformation,” emphasized the need for a skilled African workforce to harness new technologies in line with the AU’s 2024 Theme of the Year — “Educate an African Fit for the 21st Century.”

The upcoming AIW 2025 builds on this momentum, guided by the resolutions of the 17th Extraordinary Assembly of AU Heads of State and Government on Industrialization and Economic Diversification, which called for the removal of barriers to industrialization through infrastructure investment, skills development, and access to financing for productive sectors.

The commemoration of Africa Industrialization Day (AID), initiated by the defunct Organization of African Unity (OAU) and endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 1989, has since evolved into a week-long celebration since 2018 — advancing Africa’s industrialization agenda through the opportunities presented by the AfCFTA.