Delegates put forward the notion that Africa has an opportunity to set its course, engage a creative multi-nodal multilateralism and resist being pulled into the spheres of interest of any global powers. Discussions covered the question of what challenges does the global order put in the way of African progress, and how is the continent rising to these to enhance its agency? Exciting voices set out a new field for studies and showcase new activists for a women-led Pan-Africanism, for ecological leadership and more intra- African trade as critical nodes on the journey.