BREAKING NEWS, Business
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Chief executive officers of businesses in Africa gather in Geneva next week to find solutions that can spur structural transformation that will uplift the economy of the continent to the next level
| By Maureen Chigbo | Mar. 17, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
MORE than 700 African and international decision makers will attend the second Africa CEO Forum scheduled to hold in Geneva from March 17 to 19. Organised by Groupe Jeune Afrique in partnership with the African Development Bank, AfDB, the forum provides African business leaders, public decision-makers and international investors with the opportunity to discuss ways to spur on Africa’s structural transformation and make the most of the major changes that are under way. Following a decade of strong growth, Africa is back on the international stage. But in today’s highly competitive global environment, it must demonstrate that it is able to sustain this dynamics in the long term. These are the stakes for Africa as it enters a new phase of its economic development and why the CEOs are gathering to map out the way forward at the forum which offers a solid framework for exchange between the major players of the African private sector.
The event will feature an outstanding overview of the African private sector through four plenary conferences and eight knowledge sessions. Africa’s competitiveness enhancement, the place for African companies in the construction projects, the Africapitalism paradigm, and the digital revolution are among the core themes that will be presented in the plenary conferences of the forum. There will also be eight knowledge sessions which will attempt to address more concretely the trends in company management and strategies to encourage its growth: agribusiness, extractive industries, capital partnerships and so on.
According to Amir Ben Yahmed, president of the Africa CEO Forum, “These topics prove to be very relevant to businessmen and investors who wish to think ‘out of the box’. The format relies on the tremendous experience of iconic CEOs and experts who will propose significant strategies in regards to the company management and identify key growth drivers in different sectors”.
Since its creation in 2012, the forum has sought to bring English-and French-speaking leading economic players closer together. It aims to facilitate local exchange development, promote public-private dialogue to build a foundation which would encourage growth of new activities and enhance and support African entrepreneurship.
The leading figures who will attend the event include Mo Ibrahim, president of Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Strive Masiyiwa, chairman of Econet Wireless, Bob Collymore, chief executive officer, CEO of Safaricom; Ashish Thakkar, CEO of Mara Group; Emmanuel Faber, delegate director of Danone; Abdeslam Ahizoune, CEO of Maroc Telecom; Kola Karim, CEO of Shoreline Energy International; as well as Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines.
Developed in partnership with the African Development Bank, Africa CEO Forum is an event organised by Groupe Jeune Afrique, publisher of Jeune Afrique and The Africa Report and Rainbow Unlimited, a Swiss company specialised in planning economic promotion events and manager of the Swiss African Business Circle, SABC.
