East Africa has one of the youngest populations in the world, with a median age under 18 in the EAC region. That demographic reality is both the opportunity and the pressure point behind EAES26.

Employers increasingly report a mismatch between graduate competencies and labour market needs — a gap first highlighted in the 2014 IUCEA report, which found that one in two graduates in the region lacked key employability competencies. A 2015 World Bank Enterprise Survey found more than a quarter of formal firms in Sub-Saharan Africa cited inadequate workforce skills as a major constraint to hiring.

Closing that gap means stronger links between education and industry, wider adoption of Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET), and deliberate investment in digital and entrepreneurial skills — all core tracks at this year’s summit.