More than 20 African heads of state and government representatives are expected to gather in Egypt on Friday for the inaugural Alamein Africa Forum, a three-day business summit aimed at deepening trade, investment and economic cooperation across the continent.

The summit, which will take place in the Mediterranean city of Alamein, is part of Egypt’s renewed efforts to strengthen its economic and diplomatic influence in Africa amid the growing presence of China and Gulf countries, particularly the United Arab Emirates.

Egypt, which has traditionally focused much of its foreign policy attention on the Middle East and Mediterranean region, has in recent years sought to expand its engagement with African countries through trade, investment and infrastructure projects.

The forum is expected to bring together African political leaders, business executives, bankers and representatives of development institutions to discuss opportunities in infrastructure, trade, agriculture, healthcare, mining, technology and renewable energy.

Egypt’s Deputy Foreign Minister for African Affairs, Mohamed Abu Bakr Saleh, described the gathering as an African platform designed to facilitate business partnerships across the continent.

He said a major objective was to enable businesses from different African regions to establish agreements and partnerships through the forum.

According to Saleh, the event is expected to become a biennial gathering under an African Union mandate.

Egypt seeks stronger economic ties
Egyptian officials estimate the country’s investments across Africa at about $14 billion, with infrastructure projects forming a significant part of its economic engagement.

One of the country’s flagship investments is the $3 billion Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project in Tanzania, which was constructed by a consortium led by Egyptian companies.

Cairo is also seeking to use stronger economic ties with African countries to expand its influence at a time when China and Gulf states have become major investors across the continent.

Saleh said Africa had significant economic potential but required greater investment and stronger intra-African trade to fully exploit its resources.

“Africa possesses vast resources, but they are still not being exploited to the level we would like to see,” he said.

Trade among African countries stood at about $192 billion in 2023, representing roughly 15 per cent of the continent’s total trade.

This compares with more than 55 per cent of total trade conducted within Asia and over 70 per cent in Europe.

Africa also attracted about $70 billion in foreign direct investment in 2025, according to United Nations figures, compared with approximately $1.6 trillion invested globally.

GERD dispute remains a major backdrop
The summit is also taking place against the backdrop of Egypt’s longstanding dispute with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the River Nile.

The approximately $5 billion project, which Ethiopia inaugurated last year, is Africa’s largest hydroelectric project and is viewed by Addis Ababa as critical to economic development and electricity generation.

Egypt, however, has repeatedly raised concerns that the operation of the dam could affect its access to Nile waters, on which the country heavily depends.

More than a decade of negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan has failed to produce a binding agreement governing the filling and operation of the dam.

Egypt has maintained that any arrangement must protect what it describes as its water security.

“Our position on Egypt’s water security has not changed and will not change,” Saleh said, describing the issue as existential for Egypt.

The Alamein Africa Forum therefore comes as Egypt seeks to deepen economic relationships across the continent while continuing to navigate one of Africa’s most persistent disputes over shared water resources.

The Dougha Tamarkuro Humanitarian Initiatives (DTHI) has provided welfare and educational support to 50 serving police officers and 20 children of officers who died in active service in Bayelsa State.

The intervention was carried out on Monday at the Police Officers’ Mess in Yenagoa under the organisation’s National Police Welfare and Resilience Programme.

Tagged “The Police Are Our Friends,” the programme was designed to promote the psychological well-being and resilience of police personnel while also supporting the educational needs of children of fallen officers.

The 50 police beneficiaries, drawn from junior, mid-level and senior ranks, participated in a mental health and resilience workshop as part of the programme.

They also received welfare food support aimed at providing additional assistance to personnel serving in the state.

Twenty children of deceased police officers benefited from DTHI’s Fallen Heroes Education Support Scheme, which focuses on supporting the educational needs of children whose parents lost their lives while serving the country.

Speaking at the event, the Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police, CP Ajao Adewale, described the intervention as a significant gesture of support for police personnel and families of officers who died in the line of duty.

Adewale said the initiative complemented the welfare efforts of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu, towards improving the well-being of police officers and their families.

He stressed the importance of addressing the mental and emotional health of police personnel, noting that the demanding nature of police work required adequate support for officers to effectively perform their duties.

“The mental and emotional well-being of police personnel is essential to effective, professional and compassionate policing. Officers who are adequately supported are better positioned to discharge their responsibilities with renewed commitment and resilience,” the commissioner said.

Adewale commended DTHI for extending its intervention beyond serving officers to include children of fallen police personnel.

He described the support as a recognition of the sacrifices made by police officers who lost their lives while serving the country.

According to him, providing assistance to the families of deceased officers was important to ensure that the sacrifices of fallen personnel continued to be recognised and appreciated.

The commissioner also said humanitarian interventions targeted at police personnel could help strengthen the relationship between the police and members of the public.

He expressed appreciation to DTHI for its commitment to supporting police officers and families of fallen personnel in Bayelsa State.

The intervention underscores the importance of welfare and psychosocial support for security personnel, particularly officers working in demanding environments, while providing assistance to families left behind by personnel who died in active service.

I recently became a Global Fellow of the WomenLift Health Leadership program, marking the completion of a transformative 12-month journey designed to equip women in public health with the competencies, strategic skills and allyship required to thrive in the global health space.

It was an intensive and deeply reflective year that fundamentally reframed how I understand leadership, influence and the responsibility that comes with occupying spaces where decisions about health systems and communities are made.

The need for such leadership development cannot be separated from the persistent gender gap in health leadership.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025, women constitute 58.5 per cent of the workforce in the healthcare and care sector, making them a major force in the delivery and execution of health services globally. Yet, this numerical strength has not translated proportionately into positions of senior leadership.

The familiar “sticky floor and glass ceiling” phenomenon remains evident, with women accounting for only 28.8 per cent of top management positions across the broader global economy.

In global health systems, the imbalance is equally striking. While women make up nearly 70 per cent of the global health and social care workforce, World Health Organisation data estimates that they occupy only about 25 per cent of senior roles.

This disparity presents a fundamental leadership challenge.

The people who constitute the majority of the workforce responsible for delivering health services remain significantly underrepresented at the tables where policies, investments and institutional priorities are determined.

It is against this backdrop that the WomenLift Health Leadership program was established to provide exceptional women in public health with the mentorship, executive coaching, strategic skills and networks required to advance into positions of greater influence.

A year of self-discovery and leadership growth
Over the 12 months, members of my cohort used diagnostic tools from the Centre for Creative Leadership to examine different dimensions of our professional capabilities and leadership styles.

We explored leadership presence, agility, resilience and adaptability, while also examining conflict resolution, influencing styles and other elements that shape how leaders operate within complex institutions.

Before joining the fellowship, I had never experienced formal executive coaching. I initially approached the process with some unease and uncertainty about the value it would ultimately add to my professional journey.

That scepticism did not last long.

The coaching sessions became one of the most valuable aspects of the programme because they required us to confront our assessment results honestly and translate them into meaningful personal and professional growth.

The sessions created a safe environment for rigorous self-reflection.

Coming prepared for each conversation meant confronting some of my core professional challenges directly.

More importantly, I consistently walked away with a clearer understanding of myself, my leadership style and the direction I wanted to take.

The internal work was complemented by small-group mentoring sessions facilitated by established female leaders in public health.

These conversations provided a rare, judgment-free environment where we could discuss systemic workplace barriers, acknowledge hidden apprehensions and develop practical approaches to becoming more authentic and effective leaders within our organisations.

Turning leadership lessons into action
A defining component of the fellowship is the implementation of a strategic leadership project aligned with one of WomenLift Health’s core themes:

centering women and girls in health, catalysing institutional change, optimising pathways to leadership, or building integrated and resilient health systems.

My project, “Advocacy for Body Safety Skills and Sexual and Reproductive Health Empowerment Integration into School Health Curriculum for Key Stage 2 and 3 Female Students in Nigeria,” focuses on centering women and girls.

The project seeks to equip young schoolgirls with essential reproductive health knowledge and body-safety skills, with the broader objective of contributing to improved health outcomes, reducing maternal mortality in the long term and advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 3, 4 and 5.

Implementing the project also provided an opportunity to take a long-standing passion project to a broader, national level while applying the leadership methodologies I was learning throughout the fellowship.

During the early advocacy stages, members of my cohort became immediate allies, helping to create connections with key public and private stakeholders within Nigeria’s school health ecosystem.

The journey has not been without challenges. Navigating institutional bureaucracy can be daunting, particularly when attempting to introduce ideas that require coordination across multiple sectors.

Yet, every strategic conversation has reinforced my conviction that protecting and educating the Nigerian girl child must remain a priority.

The power of a leadership community
Perhaps the most treasured asset I gained from the fellowship is the extraordinary network of women I now call colleagues, collaborators and friends.

Many of us were complete strangers before the programme.

Some of us met physically for the first time during the Immersion and Lift-Off events. Yet, over the course of the fellowship, we developed a profound and enduring bond.

We lifted one another, leaned on one another and showed up for one another.

In a competitive professional environment where the misconception persists that women do not support one another, this fellowship offered a powerful counterexample.

It demonstrated that women can create communities founded on growth, warmth, collaboration and mutual elevation.

The facilitators from the Centre for Creative Leadership and the team at the Women in Leadership Advancement Network played an important role in creating and sustaining that environment.

For someone operating an independent global health consulting firm, the professional journey can sometimes feel solitary.

That reality has been made more pronounced by local health workforce shortages and the difficult global funding environment.

The fellowship therefore arrived at an important moment, providing not only leadership development but also a community that offered connection, encouragement and renewed professional purpose.

Going further, together
An African proverb says: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
That principle captures an important lesson from the fellowship.

The complex challenges confronting global public health are too interconnected to be solved by individuals working in isolation.

They require collaboration across disciplines, institutions, communities and borders.

As Helen Keller famously observed, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

Progress becomes possible when people with courage, expertise and a shared sense of purpose come together to pursue meaningful change.

Now officially inducted as Global Fellows, my cohort joins an international community of more than 600 women leaders around the world.

Our journey does not end with the completion of the fellowship.

If anything, it marks the beginning of a new phase—one in which we take the knowledge, relationships and leadership capabilities gained through the programme into our institutions, communities and health systems.

We will continue to contribute to progressive health policies, develop innovative clinical and development frameworks, strengthen health systems and pursue pathways that enable more women to occupy senior decision-making positions.

The leadership gap in global health will not disappear overnight.

But programmes such as WomenLift Health demonstrate the value of intentionally investing in women, building networks of support and creating pathways through which leadership potential can translate into institutional influence.

For me, the greatest lesson from the past year is simple: leadership is not merely about occupying a position. It is about using influence responsibly, creating space for others and building systems that allow more people to thrive.

And when women are given the opportunity, support and platforms to lead, the benefits extend beyond individual careers.

They can translate into stronger health systems, better-informed communities and healthier societies.

When women lead, better health follows.