In a multipolar world, African agency rests on two pillars: reclaiming the continent’s physical space and resources, and liberating the African mindset from colonial legacies of subservience and post-colonial dependency. “Liberating your mind as an African, liberating your land, modernising your mind, modernising our land, are very crucial conditions as far as African agency is concerned,” said Dr Edward Kaweesi, politics lecturer at Makerere University in Uganda. Only then can we leverage our resources into true bargaining power,” he said. Dr Onalenna Selolwane, senior sociology lecturer at the University of Botswana, emphasised that African agency cannot be left to politicians, who are often compromised by external pressures. Instead, businesses, academics, NGOs, and civil society must forge direct links across the continent, building networks that speak with one voice to advance African sovereignty and protect resources.