PMI Global Insights

By: Yonela Mfeya

In Africa, every gathering focused on development, innovation, or progress carries weight far beyond its agenda. For many of us, forums like the PMI Global Summit Series Africa (GSSA) are more than just opportunities to network; they are vital spaces for learning, convening, and collective problem-solving.

I’ve been reflecting on the role conferences play in environments where challenges are not theoretical. In much of Africa, we are living the realities others only write about. We know what underfunded sectors look like. We know what it means to face a deep talent shortage while carrying the promise of the youngest population on the planet. We are acutely aware of the infrastructural gaps, digital divides, and policy lags. These aren’t abstract statistics - they are our daily hurdles. And if that weren’t enough, we wake up each day navigating shifting policies and shrinking aid - realities that demand relentless resilience from the project managers building against the odds.

I’ve just returned from China, where talent development is treated as a national priority and embedded into every layer of economic planning. This was a striking reminder that if Africa is to rise, we cannot leave talent to chance. We must be just as deliberate.

That’s why platforms like the Global Summit Series Africa matter. They offer more than dialogue; they offer direction. Dialogue, even without easy answers, is a form of action. While we may not have the luxury of historic institutions or vast resources, we have something many parts of the world are struggling to rekindle - urgency, powered by community.

That same paradox applies to our development story. We didn’t create the systems shaping the global economy, but we’re expected to catch up, compete, and innovate all at once - with less. Which is why we can’t afford to wait for perfect conditions. Our path forward demands resourcefulness, collaboration, and spaces that challenge us to think beyond limitations. 

And so, the Global Summit Series Africa takes on a different meaning. It’s not a luxury. It’s a strategic imperative. In a landscape that demands innovation under pressure, GSSA becomes a space to reimagine how we lead, build, and leap forward. It’s where policymakers, corporate leaders, and the next generation of project managers come together to learn, unlearn, and lead. Sessions will tackle Africa’s persistent skills crisis, explore how to fund major infrastructure when international aid dries up, and examine how private capital can step in more meaningfully. 

Personally, I attend events like this because I want to stay hopeful, but not blindly so. I want to hear from voices across the continent who, like me, are tired of the overplayed “potential” narrative. Potential without execution is exhausting. That’s why I’ve come to see the Summit as our best opportunity to convert intention into coordinated action. When institutions like the African Development Bank show up, it signals more than interest; it signals alignment, influence, and the possibility of scale. 

In other parts of the world, learning is distributed across systems: universities, think tanks, innovation hubs. In our context, a three-day gathering like GSSA might be the only time a government advisor meets a start-up founder, or a university lecturer debates a corporate executive. That proximity, across borders, languages, and sectors, is powerful. It creates the kind of learning textbooks cannot replicate.

Yes, we face inequities like talent gaps, funding shortfalls, and structural inertia. But as a project manager, my response is not despair. It is determination. That’s why the GSSA matters to me. If you are truly invested in building Africa, then your seat is at this table.