AFRICA CEO FORUM OPENS IN GENEVA: SHOWCASING THE CONTINENT’S PRIVATE SECTOR LEADERS
GENEVA, Switzerland, November 21, 2012/ -- THE
FIRST AFRICA CEO FORUM, a high-level meeting for the African private
sector, opened on Tuesday November 20, in Geneva in the presence of 560
delegates from 32 countries, including more than 300 leaders of major
private African enterprises. Approximately 100 investors and financiers,
among the most influential in Africa, as well dignitaries from Africa
and the rest of the world, attended the event.
The opening ceremony was co-chaired by Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank Group (http://www.afdb.org),
and Amir Ben Yahmed, Vice-President of the Jeune Afrique Group. The
meeting was an opportunity to discuss what is needed to boost African
development through the dynamics of growth offered by the continent’s
private sector.
According
to Ben Yamed, one of the major objectives of the forum was to
facilitate discussions to ensure African countries find themselves at
the forefront of growing emerging economies, supported by a strong
private sector managed by internationally recognized leaders.
President
Kaberuka held a similar perspective: “Africa has entered the 21st
Century determined to throw back shackles of poverty, to converge with
the rest of the world, to get the African Lions into the same territory
as the Asian Tigers.”
This
forum falls perfectly in line with the AfDB mission in its bid to “to
do more in supporting and promoting the private sector.” Moreover, the
Africa CEO Forum is an ideal platform for the Bank to exchange ideas and
reinforce its ties with private sector leaders.
A
better understanding of African private-sector initiatives, enabling
the exchange of ideas and different viewpoints, while creating the
conditions for an ongoing dialogue with private business people, these
are the aspirations of Donald Kaberuka, who proposed “the establishment
of an External Consultative Committee of private sector leaders with
whom I will readily work hand-in-hand.”
The
Ben Ahmed also expressed confidence in the future of this initiative:
“The aim of the Africa CEO Forum is to showcase this new, energetic,
African private sector, which has nothing to envy of its counterparts in
other emerging economies.”
The
Vice-President of the World Bank for the African Region, Makhtar Diop,
echoed those sentiments: “This Forum is a confirmation that Africa needs
its private sector leaders. The World Bank considers the private sector
as a major partner in the development of the African countries as a
whole.”
Organized
by the Jeune Afrique Group in partnership with the AfDB, the Africa CEO
Forum called on all participants to come up with answers to questions
raised in four plenary meetings chaired by eminent African and
international personalities.
This
ambitious program was completed during the two-day meeting including
nine thematic conferences, which offered ready-made toolkits for CEOs on
the latest management trends: international development strategy,
access to capital, regional integration, public-private sector dialogue,
an in-depth explanation of the legal environment, as well as skills
management.
Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the African Development Bank.
