Lisa Adams is a South African born technology leader and Founder of Citizen Code, working at the forefront of building digital products for social impact across Africa and globally. Her work is defined by designing for real-world barriers like high data costs, limited internet access, low-end devices, and complex social environments, including conflict-affected regions. She focuses on creating accessible, safe, and culturally grounded technologies that reach millions of young people where they are, particularly in areas such as sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender-based violence (GBV), mental wellbeing, and digital heritage. She is a trusted advisor to global organisations including UNICEF and Girl Effect, and the author of the 2026 UN-CPD Regional Briefing for Africa on Population, Development, and Technology. As Acting Minister of Technology and AI for the State of the Youth Address, Lisa brings a perspective that is both proudly South African and globally recognised, advocating for a future where young people are not just users of technology, but active builders shaping systems that truly work for them.

Dr Siya is a medical doctor and digital health educator working at the intersection of healthcare, media, and access. His work is shaped by frontline experience as an ER doctor in underserved township communities in South Africa, where he witnessed firsthand the barriers young people face in accessing care, from overstretched systems to stigma and a lack of trusted information. This reality has driven his focus on rethinking how healthcare reaches people beyond traditional systems. He has since built a platform reaching millions, using spaces like TikTok to translate complex topics such as sexual health, mental wellbeing, and public health into content that young people can actually understand and engage with. He has gone on to work as a strategist and advisor to global health organisations, including the World Health Organization and partners within the Gates Foundation ecosystem, contributing to how digital platforms can be used to expand access to trusted health information at scale. As Acting Minister of Digital Health for the State of the Youth Address, Dr Siya brings a clear and urgent perspective that in a country where access to healthcare remains unequal, trusted digital information is essential to democratising care for young people.

Candice Chirwa is a South African menstrual health activist, academic, and founder of Qrate, widely known as the "Minister of Menstruation." She has built one of the most recognisable youth-led movements tackling period poverty and stigma, using education, storytelling, and community work to shift how menstruation is understood and spoken about. Her work addresses a critical but often overlooked barrier to opportunity, where thousands of young people miss school and fall behind simply because they cannot access menstrual products or safe, informed support. Through her work, Candice has pushed menstrual health into broader conversations around dignity, education, and gender equity, positioning it as a public health and human rights issue, not just a "women's issue." As Acting Minister of Menstrual Health for the State of the Youth Address, she brings a clear and necessary perspective, that you cannot talk about youth development, education, or economic participation without addressing the realities of period poverty and the systems that continue to ignore it.

Kiara Mitoo is a South African junior software engineer, AI student, and youth technology advocate working at the frontline of the education-to-employment transition. Having only recently transitioned out of the school system, she represents a generation of young people navigating a critical and often broken pathway between education and meaningful work. As a developer at Citizen Code and founder of Code: Connexion, her work is grounded in the realities of South Africa's youth unemployment crisis, with a focus on how technology, learning, and access intersect in environments shaped by inequality and limited opportunity. She is a strong advocate for rethinking internships and learnerships as critical economic infrastructure, essential bridges that convert skills into real participation in the economy. Drawing from both lived experience and her work in the tech ecosystem, she challenges systems that leave young people overqualified on paper but excluded in practice. As Acting Minister of Internships for the State of the Youth Address, Kiara brings a clear, urgent, and deeply relevant perspective on what it will take to unlock opportunity for South Africa's youth at scale.

Raeesah Noor-Mahomed is a South African climate justice activist and youth leader working at the intersection of climate, inequality, and social change. Her work is grounded in an intersectional approach, linking climate change to histories of colonialism, apartheid, and systemic injustice, and pushing for solutions that centre those most affected. She began her activism as a student and has since grown into a recognised voice in the African climate movement, from leading school-level mobilisation to participating in global spaces like COP26 and collaborating with organisations such as Greenpeace. She is particularly focused on climate literacy and making the climate conversation more accessible, inclusive, and youth-led, recognising that young people are already living the consequences of decisions they did not make. As Acting Minister of Climate Change for the State of the Youth Address, Raeesah brings a clear and urgent perspective, that climate change is not just an environmental issue, but a justice issue, and that any meaningful response must centre youth voices, local realities, and the communities most impacted.