It was a real privilege to listen, learn, and exchange perspectives with policymakers, founders, investors, and operators working across the world  at the World Economic Forum. The openness and depth of those discussions stayed with me long after the meetings ended.

This year was particularly meaningful with the opening of Nigeria House for the first time, and I was proud to be part of those conversations. Seeing African and European stakeholders engage more intentionally around collaboration, investment, and execution felt like a real shift. The AI topic remained top priority with every discussion - a reminder of how quickly the tech landscape is changing. Kudos to Titi Akinsanmi and Russ Wilcox for a splendid discussion on "AI Who Writes the Rules" - really insightful. 

Many discussions still came back to a familiar challenge: ambitious initiatives slowing down because delivery capacity, structure, or cross-market coordination is stretched. This was a clear consensus during the Connecting Continents: Unlocking Africa's Growth Together Panel by PACHEDU - Unlocking Africa's Growth Together moderated by Tallulah Patricia Bär . We are definitely asking the right questions. 

Over the last decade, Ive worked supporting organisations with project and programme delivery, operational structure, growth scaling and go-to-market strategies, particularly across the Africa–Europe interface; I am always curious about the projects people are working on and keen to continue the dialogue on how these challenges can be addressed in practice. 

Follow me on LinkedIn @ Valerie Kerri