01People
Future of Work
Cross-border talent, remote enterprise and credential portability between the two regions.
Dubai · November 2026
A newgeneration ofpartnership.
UAE×AFRICA
A curated platform connecting emerging leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs and institutions to build practical collaborations across regions.
Co-organised by
MOMENTS
GULF AFRICA INVESTMENT NEXUS
The four pillars
Pillar 01
People
Leadership, skills and human capital
- Leadership
- Future skills
- Education pathways
- Career mobility
- Mentorship
- Professional development
Pillar 02
Enterprise
Entrepreneurship, investment and economic opportunity
- Startups and SMEs
- Investment
- Trade
- Market access
- Employment
- Cross-border expansion
Pillar 03
Innovation
Technology, AI, creativity and new economies
- AI
- Digital transformation
- Climate technology
- Fintech
- Creative economy
- Emerging industries
Pillar 04
Society
Community, sustainability and shared futures
- Social innovation
- Climate
- Culture
- Community development
- Responsible leadership
- Sustainable development
UAE–Africa ConnectionsUAE–Africa ConnectionsUAE–Africa ConnectionsUAE–Africa ConnectionsUAE–Africa ConnectionsUAE–Africa Connections
01The moment
A generation is connected. The systems around it are not.
The UAE and Africa do not lack young talent, ideas or ambition.
What is missing are the trusted relationships, access points and institutional bridges that let that talent collaborate at scale. The problem is structural. It sits in the infrastructure, not in the people — which is precisely why a convening platform can solve it.
The capital corridor
Already mature. Built at speed, and still accelerating.
The human corridor
Not yet built. This is the gap UAYDF exists to close.
The consequence
Talent on both sides working next to each other rather than with each other.
02Why UAE × Africa
Complementarity, not charity.
Two dynamic regions. Different strengths. Shared possibilities. Neither side of this page is the donor and neither is the recipient.
Africa brings
- 01Talent and demographics
- 02Markets and growth
- 03Entrepreneurship
- 04Creativity and culture
- 05Natural resources
- 06Emerging solutions
- 07Innovation at frontier cost
Complementarity
Two dynamic regions. Different strengths. Shared possibilities.
The UAE brings
- 01Global connectivity
- 02Capital and infrastructure
- 03Technology and institutions
- 04International market access
- 05Regulatory and logistics capability
- 06A globally connected business environment
- 07Convening power
03The evidence
The relationship is already real.
Capital corridors are being built at speed. The demographic weight is unambiguous. Every figure below carries its source, because institutions verify.
$0B+
UAE investment into Africa, 2019–2023
UAE Ministry of Economy & Tourism / FT Locations
#1
Globally, by volume of new projects announced in Africa
FT Locations, fDi Markets
0
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements signed since 2021
WAM / UAE Ministry of Economy & Tourism
$0B+
Estimated annual UAE–Africa non-oil trade
UAE Ministry of Economy & Tourism
0M
Africans aged 15–35 today
World Data Lab / Mastercard Foundation
0%
Of the world's young people live in Africa
World Data Lab / Mastercard Foundation
0M
African youth projected by 2030, while every other region ages
African Union
0.0M
More young Africans in services than agriculture by 2033
Africa Youth Employment Outlook 2026
A full source annex with URLs and access dates is maintained and available to institutional partners on request.
04The platform
The Forum is only the beginning.
Three days in November are the flagship convening mechanism, not the whole of it. What sits around them is a year-round platform with staffed machinery and published targets.
- 01Flagship
Annual Forum
The flagship convening. Three days, 150–200 selected participants, in Dubai.
- 02
Fellows Network
A twelve-month designation carrying platform access, quarterly convenings and priority on the opportunity board.
- 03
UAE–Africa Exchange
Structured movement of people, ideas and projects between the two regions across the year.
- 04
Mentorship & Market Access
Pairings that are formed in the room, tracked at 90 days, and reported on.
- 05
Innovation & Enterprise Showcase
Ventures and research put in front of people with the standing to act on them.
- 06
Collaboration Labs
The signature mechanism. Real challenges, cross-regional teams, named owners.
- 07
Post-Forum Engine
The 30 / 90 / 180 / 365-day machinery, staffed and budgeted before the Forum opens.
- 08
Annual Impact Report
Published against the scorecard, independently verified, and used to open the next edition.
05The five principles
Five commitments, each with a constraint attached.
A principle that cannot be violated by a specific decision is decoration. Each of these can be, which is what makes them real.
- Partnership over patronage
The constraint
Every delegate is selected on contribution, not need. No participant is described as a beneficiary in any Forum material. No partner receives recognition framed as generosity.
- Opportunity over rhetoric
The constraint
Every session produces an artefact — a commitment, a match, a Lab output, or a documented input to the Dubai Commitment. Sessions that cannot name their artefact are cut from the programme.
- Exchange over extraction
The constraint
Every panel includes voices from both regions. Every pillar has an African lead and a UAE-based lead. Perception shift is measured in both directions in the exit survey.
- Collaboration over geography
The constraint
Collaboration Labs are composed with enforced cross-regional mixing. No Lab team is single-country.
- Continuity over convening
The constraint
The 30/90/180/365-day engine is staffed and budgeted before the Forum opens, not after it closes. Fellows are inducted in the room, not selected afterwards.
01
Young Africans and young people in the UAE are participants and co-creators, not beneficiaries and benefactors.
02
Every significant conversation should lead somewhere practical.
03
Knowledge, capital, talent, culture and innovation move in both directions.
04
Cross-border collaboration should be normal rather than exceptional.
05
The Forum is the beginning of relationships, not the end of them.
06Who we bring together
Different experiences. Shared ambition.
100–120 emerging leaders in a room with the institutions that can act on what they bring. Not 500 young people in a hall — 150 people who each have something to contribute.
- Government
- Development finance
- Corporates
- Investors
- Universities
- Foundations
- NGOs and youth organisations
- Technology companies
Emerging leaders
Institutions
The connection field
07The experience
Designed around outcomes, not an agenda.
Most of the value of a forum is created before anyone arrives and after everyone leaves. UAYDF is built on that assumption.
Day one
The case, the complementarity, and the first Lab working session. Keynote conversations that pair the two regions rather than alternating them.
Day two
Second Lab session, mentorship exchange, enterprise connections, and the closed 25-person session that converts Lab outputs into institutional commitments.
Day three
Lab outputs presented with named owners. The UAYDF Dubai Commitment 2026 signed and published. Fellows inducted in the room.
Throughout
Every session carries a defined artefact. Cultural programme built with practitioners from both regions.
08The signature mechanism
The Collaboration Lab.
Real challenges. Diverse minds. Practical collaboration.
Selected participants work in cross-regional teams on real challenges rather than sitting through panels. Teams of 10–12, enforced cross-regional and cross-sector composition, one institutional mentor and one facilitator each. No Lab team is single-country.
Every Lab moves through
01
Challenge
A real, named problem brought by an institution or a participant — not a hypothetical.
02
Ideas
Teams of 10–12, cross-regional and cross-sector by design. No team is single-country.
03
Collaboration
One institutional mentor, one facilitator, two working sessions across days one and two.
04
Proposed action
A pathway that can survive the flight home, with a named owner attached to it.
05
Named partner
The institution or individual who carries it forward, identified in the room.
06
Next step
Fed directly into the Dubai Commitment and tracked publicly at 90, 180 and 365 days.
Six Labs for Edition One
Each mapped to a pillar · each with a named owner at the end
02Innovation
AI & African Innovation
Tooling, data, talent and deployment — what it takes to build and ship from the continent.
03Enterprise
Cross-Border Entrepreneurship
Market entry, corporate structuring, capital and licensing across the UAE–Africa corridor.
04Society
Sustainable Cities & Climate
Technology, finance and delivery for urban and climate infrastructure in both regions.
05Society
Creative & Cultural Economy
Intellectual property, distribution and export for creative enterprises working across regions.
06People
Education & Human Capital
Skills, mobility and institutional partnership between universities and employers.
The senior counterpart
The closed session
Running in parallel on day two: a closed 25-person session under Chatham House rules — institutional principals plus eight elected Lab representatives.
It receives the Lab outputs and converts them into the institutional commitments that make up the Dubai Commitment. The Labs generate the substance. The closed room converts it into signature. Neither works alone.
09Partners
Partnership conversations are open for Edition One.
No partner is listed here until an agreement is signed. Founding Partner, pillar partnerships and in-kind categories are currently available, and remaining inventory is published in full.
Dubai · November 2026
The future will not be built in isolation.
From connection to collaboration. Edition One convenes 150–200 selected participants in Dubai, and opens a platform that runs the other 362 days of the year.