Kate Robertson
Africa’s biggest bank sponsors 61 young delegates, including East Africans, as One Young World returns to the continent for the first time in 13 years.
By Grace Wanja
Standard Bank Group has announced a headline partnership with One Young World for the organisation’s annual global Summit, taking place in Cape Town from 3 to 6 November 2026 — marking the first time the gathering has returned to African soil since its inaugural continental hosting in Johannesburg in 2013. Stanbic Bank Kenya, a member of the Standard Bank Group, confirmed yesterday that the partnership will see the bank sponsor 61 young delegates to attend the Summit, among them representatives from East Africa.
The One Young World Summit is one of the world’s most prominent forums for emerging leadership, bringing together young people from more than 190 countries alongside senior business executives, policymakers and global changemakers to confront some of the most urgent challenges of the age. That it returns to Africa at a moment when the continent’s demographic story is drawing unprecedented global attention gives this year’s gathering a particular resonance.
Standard Bank’s decision to anchor the partnership is rooted in a conviction that has shaped the Group’s investment philosophy for decades. “For Standard Bank, this partnership reflects our belief that Africa’s future growth and prosperity depend on investing in the potential of its young people,” said Lungisa Fuzile, Chief Executive for Africa Regions and Offshore at Standard Bank. “With a young population under 25 years old totalling an estimated 900 million, Africa is decidedly on the cusp of a demographic dividend. This partnership is perfectly aligned to our purpose — Africa is our home, we drive her growth.”
The 61 sponsored delegates represent a cross-section of the bank’s investment in youth development. Thirty form a special delegation assembled to mark the approaching 30th anniversary of Standard Bank’s Graduate Development Programme, comprising 24 alumni of its graduate programmes and six current graduates, including participants from East Africa. A further 21 are students currently supported through the bank’s bursary programme, while the remaining ten are drawn from young entrepreneurial clients and youth-focused corporate social investment partners.
The Graduate Development Programme, established in 1997, has become one of the most recognised initiatives of its kind on the continent. In 2025 alone, 251 graduates joined the programme across 11 countries, gaining structured workplace experience, mentorship and career pathways within one of Africa’s largest financial institutions. The Cape Town Summit provides a compelling backdrop against which to mark that milestone, placing the programme’s beneficiaries at the centre of a global conversation about leadership, innovation and the future of the continent.
Standard Bank’s contribution to the Summit extends beyond delegate sponsorship. Goolam Ballim, Chief Economist and Head of Research at Standard Bank Group, will participate in the Future of Africa session, offering analysis of the continent’s economic outlook and the role young leaders must play in shaping it. As main sponsor of the Summit’s Closing Ceremony, Fuzile will deliver an address urging delegates to translate the ideas, connections and inspiration generated over the four days into concrete and lasting action.
The partnership is the latest expression of a sustained investment in human capital that the Group has pursued across Africa. In 2025, Standard Bank committed an estimated KSh2B to corporate social investment initiatives continent-wide, funding programmes focused on access to quality education and the development of digital and entrepreneurial skills.
For One Young World, securing Africa’s largest bank by assets as a partner for a Summit hosted on African soil carries clear symbolic and practical weight. “We are immensely proud of this very special partnership,” said Kate Robertson, Co-Founder and Chief Executive of One Young World. “With this year’s Summit taking place in Africa, it made sense to partner with Africa’s biggest bank by assets. Standard Bank has done genuinely impressive work to drive youth development and this aligns perfectly with the values of One Young World. The Closing Ceremony marks the first step of a development journey that will undoubtedly benefit thousands of young people in Africa and beyond.”
The Summit’s attendee list underlines the scale of the gathering. Among those expected in Cape Town are Forest Whitaker, Graça Machel, Nomzamo Mbatha, Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau and Mteto Nyati, alongside hundreds of delegates, corporate leaders and public figures from across the globe.
For the East African delegates making their way to Cape Town this week, the Summit represents something more immediate than a conference. It is an invitation to step into a global conversation about where Africa is heading — and to return home with the tools, networks and resolve to help shape the answer.
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