We asked Charleen Duncan, Head of Programmes at member organization Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, to reflect on our mission in a video message to the Conference’s attendees. Charleen challenges the widespread notion that entrepreneurial ecosystems are broken. Instead, she argues they were built to be exclusive, designed to favor a select few and systematically exclude others. Drawing on South African realities, she points to an investment landscape dominated by white, male, and elite actors—where pathways to funding and opportunity remain gated due to historic inequities. This is not a failure of function, she reminds us, but “a success of design.”

The implications are global. From refugee-led ventures in Europe, to rural entrepreneurs in India, to underserved communities in the United States, the barriers that entrepreneurs face often reflect similar “design flaws.” These systems, Duncan notes, teach few young Black women—or other marginalized groups—how to navigate opaque investor expectations or build networks they were not born into.

Diversity matters, but Charleen emphasizes that connection is the real goal. She asks: Can we co-design global thinking that leads to local healing? The challenge is not to import solutions but to exchange wisdom, combine the nuances of our diverse contexts, and create systems that truly work for all.

Her call is clear: ecosystems mirror our beliefs about people, value, and power. If we want transformation, we must dismantle and rebuild their architecture. The question must shift from “Who do we let in?” to “Who do we let build?”

As ANDE members gather in Cancún this week, Charleen’s message sets the tone: the ecosystem isn’t broken—it was built that way. And therefore, it can be rebuilt.

Let’s build it together.