Africa is the youngest continent globally and engaging with this emerging group of future leaders, policymakers and innovators will be essential to the survival of African postal operators.
The UPU invited young professionals aged 25-35 from ICT, data science, logistics, engineering, business, fintech and public policy backgrounds to its first-ever African Young Postal Leadership Day during the African Postal Leaders Forum in Praia, Cabo Verde, on 26 February – a day-long intergenerational exchange that confronted current leaders with some harsh realities, while helping young participants see fresh potential in the Post.“The idea was not only to cultivate the next generation of postal leadership, but also to solicit their views on how to transform the Post from a legacy institution to a platform for innovation, leadership and future opportunity,” says Amadou Amadou, UPU’s Coordinator for Africa.
Union Postale connected with four participants to learn more about the impact that the dialogue had on their perspectives of the Post.
Shattering stereotypes
Participants admittedly held some unflattering perceptions of the postal sector before their participation.
Mariam Simbeye, a project manager with Breaking Barriers in Tech – an organization dedicated to helping build an inclusive, resilient and competitive digital workforce in Tanzania – describes an assumption that many of the participants held: that the Post only dealt with post.
This was echoed by Chimango Febbie Chihana, a Malawian accounting and audit professional who leads a youth empowerment organization tackling unemployment, skills development and innovation. She candidly describes her previous belief that the Post was mainly used by those who did not have access to more efficient private courier services.
However, the invitation to participate in the forum itself spurred a new realization – that the postal network can be used for so much more than delivering mail.
“I came to learn that the postal sector is undergoing a major transformation globally and many African postal institutions are actively reinventing themselves through digital services, e-commerce integration, logistics innovation, and interoperability initiatives,” says Nigerian brand strategist, Temitope Adeyemi Ogunyemi.
Mohammad Nour Sadou, Commercial Manager at a Cameroonian consulting and leadership development firm, confesses he underestimated how critical African postal operators were to the continent’s economic future. For him, alignment with younger customers’ needs was imperative.
“My generation does not move toward services anymore, services move toward us,” says Sadou. “The conversations reinforced my belief that the future of the sector will depend less on infrastructure alone and more on the ability to build customer-centric, data-driven and operationally agile services adapted to new consumption habits.”
Empowering people
“One of the major points I raised was the need for African postal operators to redefine their target market,” says Chihana. “The sector should move beyond traditional mail users and instead position itself as a bridge between the digital world and underserved communities.”
She viewed employees as potential intrapreneurs and “Digital Inclusion Officers”. This idea was also reflected in Simbeye’s proposed Postal Ecosystem Transformation Initiative (PETI) framework – a methodology that would leverage the insight and relationships of postal staff to create that connection between new technology and the people it serves.
“Postal systems do not operate on infrastructure alone, they operate on trust, on relationships, on people who explain, guide, translate, reassure, and help others navigate systems,” explains Simbeye, adding that postal staff arwe an “invisible layer” contributing to postal operators’ success. Her PETI framework would prioritize this social infrastructure as a catalyst for postal reform.
“We are so quick to integrate technological innovations because we are quick to believe that tech alone brings us closer to modern service provision. In Africa, it’s the people that push innovations to success,” she adds.
Intentional youth inclusion
“Intentional youth inclusion is essential, not only as beneficiaries of transformation, but as contributors to strategy, innovation, and leadership renewal. Africa has a very young population, and I believe the postal sector can benefit greatly from integrating youth perspectives into modernization efforts,” says Ogunyemi.
Postal operators should support youth-led service initiatives, for example, through grants to launch pilot projects, Chihana adds.
“By doing this, the postal sector would not only modernize itself, but also create employment opportunities, empower young professionals, and encourage a culture of innovation and critical thinking. The next generation is not here to inherit systems as they are. We are here to rebuild them for relevance and create new opportunities for upcoming generations,” she says.
Small, agile, measured changes
For Sadou, innovation was about agility, not necessarily sweeping changes. He suggested a 30-day challenge where operators select one city, sorting centre or delivery zone and monitor their progress across five indicators – parcel revenue, waiting time before dispatch, average delivery time, number of complaints and complaint resolution time – holding brief daily scrums to analyze the data, identify issues and develop immediate solutions.
“Modernization does not always require major reforms or expensive technology. It starts with simple operational discipline, daily data monitoring and faster decision-making on the ground. Budget requirements often make institutions static, waiting for large investments before acting. In reality, many improvements can start immediately with existing tools and teams,” he says.
“I was encouraged by the progress already made in areas like addressing systems, interoperability, track-and-trace and the UPU Unified Data Platform. The next step is making these tools part of daily operations across all levels of the organization,” he says.
Chihana agreed that monitoring and transparency would be critical to success, especially for financing. She suggested real-time reporting and digital monitoring systems to track performance, reduce financial leaks, support strategic decision-making.
“What gets measured, gets managed,” she states.
Future engagement
The four participants all agreed that the intergenerational dialogue had not only changed their perception of the sector but piqued their interest in supporting its evolution.
“I would like to commend the Universal Postal Union for intentionally creating space for youth voices within such an important continental dialogue. I believe forums like this are important not only for the future of the postal sector, but for strengthening Africa’s broader culture of collaboration, innovation, and institution-building. I hope we will be invited to more forums like this,” adds Ogunyemi.
Amadou explains that the organization plans to extend the success of African Young Postal Leadership Day by developing a longer-term African Young Postal Leaders Fellowship Programme. The programme will include mentorship, innovation labs, pilot projects and structured leadership exposure throughout the UPU’s 2026-2029 work cycle.