The struggle for an independent, prosperous, dignified and respected Africa is the commitment of the Pan-African Think Tank KANU.

Like myself, in my modest capacity, many of you have worked tirelessly for such an Africa. This honours you, and I thank you deeply. Let us decide, together, to go further.

We stand at a pivotal moment in our shared history. The hour of the African Renaissance has struck. And we are present. A demanding reality. A reality that calls us to act.

Our continent is the demographic reservoir of the 21st century, the last frontier of global markets, the key to energy, digital and climate transitions, and the knot of reorganising global value chains.

Yet it has become — including in its vast maritime space and immense blue-economy potential — a global playground where visible and invisible geopolitical, geostrategic and geoeconomic actors intersect and confront one another.

Faced with this, what do we do? Will we continue to endure history, or will we finally write it and create the future? We refuse to merely endure history.

In line with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 — the Africa we want — we commit to building our future as principal actors in a game whose central pivot is Africa itself.

Africa is not destined to remain a playground for foreign powers. It must become a strategic actor — respected, formidable and sovereign.

That is why we must change paradigm: to de-westernise our gaze, rebuild our mental models, produce our own strategic intelligence, co-design our development trajectories, and reject all forms of dependency — intellectual, financial or technological.

The birth of KANU — The Pan-African Think Tank

KANU was born to answer this urgency. KANU — Knowledge for Africa’s New Uprising is a call to an uprising of consciences.

KANU is a space to think Africa by itself, for itself and with itself. A place for strategic fertilisation, monitoring, foresight, leadership formation, narrative reconstruction and influence diplomacy. KANU is our shared instrument of intellectual sovereignty.

No major challenge of our era can be met without rigorous, grounded and forward-looking strategic thought.

We must confront:

1. global economic warfare, where patents, data and technologies are worth more than weapons;
2. global mutations that are transforming how we live, produce and think;
3. an energy transition that covets our resources while excluding us;
4. cyber threats and technological dependency;
5. information insecurity, where narratives are imposed upon us;
6. systemic inequalities in trade, finance and global governance; and
7. the imperative to prepare our young generations to carry the torch of a sovereign, strong, humane and audacious Africa.

A solemn call

Highly Distinguished Heads of State, draw on the power of African ideas.

Captains of industry, support the emergence of a Pan-African strategic elite.

Researchers and academics, join KANU to build powerful endogenous knowledge.

Young women and men of Africa, dare to think Africa, dare to imagine it great, dare to embody it.

Africans of the Diaspora, your hour of strategic return has come.

And to all who believe that Africa deserves better: KANU is your home.

We are not building just another think tank. We are building a platform of rupture, an engine of gentle revolution, a forge of sovereignty, a launch vehicle for Africa — our Africa, cradle of our ancestors and promise of our children.

Let us write the future together

So that our continent may remain dignified, independent and respected, it needs all its sons and daughters — nothing but its children, and only its children.

With conviction and humility,
For Africa, by Africa and with Africa.