Africa

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Five African Leaders’ meeting in Brazzaville stress the important role of the private sector in Africa’s economic development

|  By Maureen Chigbo  |  Aug. 5, 2013 @ 01:00 GMT

FIVE African presidents and top business men in the continent want the private sector to participate more in the development of the continent. They are also gunning for the emergence of a strong middle class which will drive the future of the continent.  The presidents’ lofty ideas crystalised at the second annual Forbes Afrique Economic summit held Thursday, July 25, in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. The presidents are Denis Sassou N’Guesso of Congo, Macky Sall of Senegal, John Mahama of Ghana, Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso and Jacob Zuma of South Africa. They all highlighted the importance of private-sector participation in Africa’s development.

The tone of the meeting was set by N’Guesso, who highlighted the need for African countries to create more policies to support what he called ‘a powerful emergence of Africa’s middle class’ which would create a better future for Africa. Sall expanded on the four critical pillars that would drive this ‘better future’, citing education and training of human capital, modernised and mechanised agriculture, affordable energy and an adequate network of infrastructure.

Advocating for increased private-sector participation in driving the development agenda, Mahama warned against overreliance on government, when he said, “Government cannot leverage the sort of finance that is needed to create enough power in Africa.”

Campaoré, in his speech, acknowledged business leader and philanthropist Tony Elumelu, chairman of pan-African proprietary investment company, Heirs Holdings, for his efforts to drive Africa’s development by investing across the continent.

The summit, which focused on infrastructure and the emergence of an African middle class, was also attended by global leaders from the private, public and philanthropic sectors including Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General, Guy Verhofstadt, former prime minister of Belgium, Andrew Young, former US Ambassador and Atlanta mayor, and Jean-Francois Copé, president of the leading opposition party in France, the UMP, as well as African business leaders such as  Elumelu, Patrice Motsepe and Louis Ebata.

The panel session on “Supporting Growth through Investment”, featured the two most high-profile private-sector leaders in attendance, namely Elumelu and Motsepe, South African billionaire and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals. Elumelu commended the five African leaders for their strong belief in the power of the private sector as a catalyst and driver of development – the essence of his Africapitalist philosophy which other leaders, including President Barrack Obama, appear to have embraced.

Elumelu outlined the terms under which the private sector’s involvement would yield the greatest impact, highlighting long-term investments and infrastructure development as key focus areas. “Short-term investments in Africa simply don’t make an impact. It took close to two decades to get United Bank for Africa to where it is today – employing 25,000 people in 19 African countries. African leaders need to ensure the right physical and policy infrastructure is in place to support the growth of more successful pan-African businesses.” said Elumelu.

Capital such as the $40 trillion dollars which Young called ‘scared money’, currently sitting in tax havens around the world could be put to better use in developing Africa.

Annan described Africa as a continent going through “momentous times”, highlighting ‘energy’ and ‘infrastructure’ as the two biggest impediments to development. He listed the three pillars of peace and security, economic development, and the rule of law and respect for human rights, as the solution to Africa’s economic success.

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