Rahma Suleiman is a dynamic young leader driving youth-led development, governance, and innovation across Africa. She recently served her first term on the Board of Directors of Restless Development Tanzania, where she provided strategic oversight to advance sustainable development and strengthen youth-led accountability initiatives. Her journey with Restless Development reflects a deep commitment to youth leadership. She progressed from a volunteer to leading the Alumni Advisory Board for two terms, and previously contributed to programme design and implementation. She notably led
successful proposal development, including the Youth Sounding Board, a landmark partnership with the Embassy of Switzerland that positioned Tanzanian youth as key contributors to national development.
Rahma brings a strong continental perspective through her role as a Programme Associate at the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD). She supports the implementation of the 100 Million MSMEs Programme and played a key role in revamping the Akili AI platform, a partnership with BADEA, Meta, and Deloitte. This initiative leverages AI-powered advisory services to expand access to technical support and investment readiness for entrepreneurs across Africa. She has also led investment readiness training for high-potential, youth-led enterprises across Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa, strengthening their scalability and access to markets.
Her sector expertise spans health and agribusiness innovation. She has supported the implementation of Phase 2 of the Home-Grown Solutions Programme, in partnership with the African Development Bank and JICA, scaling locally driven health innovations. She also contributed to the design of the Home-Grown Solutions Agribusiness Accelerator, supporting enterprises addressing critical agricultural challenges within the COMESA region.
Rahma’s global advocacy work includes her role as a young woman leader in the Young Women’s Leadership Hub under the Education Plus Initiative, a multi-agency effort led by UNFPA, UNICEF, UNAIDS, UNESCO, and UN Women. Her work focuses on advancing gender equality, HIV prevention, and education for adolescent girls and young women across sub-Saharan Africa.
Previously, she served as Partnerships and Training Coordinator at Youth Challenge International, where she trained nearly 3,000 young women and supported over 45 social enterprises with catalytic funding in Tanzania, Uganda, and Ghana. A social innovation pioneer, Rahma co-founded Enter Africa, using gamification to address societal challenges, an approach showcased at global platforms such as Gamescom in
Germany. She is also a YALI alumna and has contributed to public policy and youth accountability initiatives, including engagements with the African Union and the SADC Parliamentary Forum, where she supported a resolution on youth-led accountability in health and gender equality.
Her policy influence includes contributing to the design and soft launch of the pre-AGYW Manifesto at ICASA 2025, amplifying the voices of over 1,000 young women and informing global health and gender policy discussions. Rahma Suleiman is committed to building an inclusive future where African youth and women are not just participants in development, but leaders shaping the continent’s prosperity through innovation, policy, and transformative action
