Baobab Summit 2025 | Mastercard Foundation

Baobab Summit 2025

Baobab Rising: Nurturing the Future Through Africa’s Youth

Baobab Summit Rwanda 2022 - aerial group photo with 2025 branding elements

October 17 - 19, 2025

The Baobab Summit celebrates the leadership, resilience and innovation of young people.

Celebrate youth leadership and excellence

The Baobab Summit brings together the Mastercard Foundation Program Scholars, Alumni, partners, and other Foundation stakeholders to celebrate the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program community. This year, our hybrid celebration takes place in Kenya and online, ensuring everyone can join in.

The theme of this year’s Summit—“Baobab Rising: Nurturing the Future through Africa’s Youth”—captures the resilience and promise of young Africans as leaders of change. It also reflects the Foundation’s commitment to enabling young people to thrive, shaping inclusive education and work systems, and advancing social and economic transformation across the continent.

Young woman standing on stage at Baobab Summit 2022 wearing a white top with smart bright green business pants, holding a microphone A woman smiling joyfully wearing a white top with a gold coloured sash

The 2025 Baobab Summit reaffirms the importance of convening to foster deeper connections, accountability, and shared purpose across the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program community.

With over 57,000 scholarships committed and a growing network of Mastercard Foundation Scholars and Alumni, the Baobab Summit reflects the Foundation’s commitment to nurturing transformative leadership and creating inclusive opportunities for young Africans to thrive.

Join the conversation: #BaobabSummit2025 #BaobabRising

You are invited: Join the virtual experience of the Baobab Summit

Our event may be happening in person but you can join from anywhere in the world

Many of the sessions from this year's Baobab Summit will be livestreamed. Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date about the livestreamed keynotes and how to tune in.

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Students celebrating together at Baobab Summit 2019

Watch the highlights of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program Baobab Summit 2022.

Watch the highlight video from the Baobab Summit in 2022 in Rwanda, celebrating 10 years of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program

Three young women waving and smiling at the Baobab 2022 summit
Group of Mastercard Foundation Scholars celebrating at the Baobab summit 2022 in an arena wearing branded Scholars @10 white tshirts
A woman celebrating seated in a hall with a a large group of people, she is seated and wearing a red tunic and white pants
Group of Mastercard Foundation Scholars celebrating at the 2023 Baobab summit
A group pf people, including Reeta Roy, applauding in an auditorium for the Baobab summit 2022

Honouring Scholars' heritage with the annual flag ceremony

Each year, during the Summit's opening ceremonies, we pause to celebrate the global reach of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program with a flag ceremony. Scholars raise their home countries' flags to celebrate their roots and demonstrate the diversity and pride of this global network. We will be livestreaming this energetic and diverse event. Stay tuned to watch this fantastic showcase of diversity coming soon.

The crowd at the Baobab Summit 2022 celebrating the flag ceremony by waving their countries flag Flag ceremony at Baobab Summit 2022, student waves a large flag to represent their country

Roving reporters: Scholar to scholar conversations

Each year, the Speak Your Mind Challenge winners are chosen as roving reporters for the Baobab Summit. During the Summit, they will connect with other scholars, learn about their experiences at the summit and showcase the leadership and excellence of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars.

Past speak your mind challenge winners interviewing scholars during the 2022 Baobab Summit

The Mastercard Foundation Alumni Network

This supportive youth-led network is a community for alumni to connect to opportunities for engagement and employment and supports ongoing career progression.

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Mastercard Foundation Alumni Committee group photo, standing in an outdoor hallway

Strengthening the community

The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program

A global initiative designed to develop the next generation of transformative leaders by enabling highly talented, service-oriented young people to pursue higher education and cultivate their leadership potential.

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Young woman smiling at the camera