AFRICA CEOs Forum Slated For November

About 300 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) from all over Africa, together with 100 bankers and investors and numerous decision-makers from Africa’s public sector, will be gathering for two days of dialogue and debate in Geneva in November this year.

The Africa CEOs Forum comes off on November 20-21, 2012, against the backdrop that after more than a decade of uninterrupted growth, Africa now stands as one of the most promising economic zones of the world, set against the background of the general crisis in Europe and the United States.

A statement from the African Development Bank (AfDB), co-organisers of the event, said success stories were happening all the time and new entrepreneurs emerging just as frequently — motivated by a desire to conquer new markets beyond their borders and the continent.

The Africa CEO Forum is the first international conference for leaders of top African companies, high-level executives of large African firms, surpassing sectoral conferences and staying off the beaten track of academic events.

It brings together for two days entrepreneurs, investors, financial decision-makers and policy-makers to promote the success of the African private sector, providing a platform for public-private dialogue and high-level strategic solutions to support the development of Africa and its markets.

For Donald Kaberuka, the President of AfDB, “The Africa CEO Forum fits perfectly into the AfDB’s mission, which is to foster an environment conducive to business and private sector development.”

The statement said the event would “highlight the initiatives of African enterprises, allow entrepreneurs to share their experiences and promote regional and intra-African trade”.

It said some leaders of the largest African companies had confirmed their participation. These include Aliko Dangote, CEO of Nigeria’s largest industrial conglomerate; Jean-Louis Billon, president of Sifca, Cote d’Ivoire’s largest private employer; Issad Rebrad, CEO of Cevital, the largest private group in Algeria; Terrab Mostafa, CEO of the Moroccan company, OCP, the world’s largest exporter of phosphates, and Mark Cutifani, who heads the South African mining group, AngloGold Ashanti.

Leaders of major international groups who have also announced their attendance at the Geneva meeting include Tidjane Thiam, CEO of top British insurance group, Prudential, and Sunny Verghese, CEO of Olam, the multinational agribusiness based in Singapore.

These personalities are in support of the launch of the first forum for the African private sector.

The statement said the participants would share experiences and contacts and consider how African businesses could develop and contribute to the economic growth of the continent.

A press conference to launch the African CEO Forum will be organised at the AfDB annual meetings in Arusha, Tanzania, between May 28 and June 1, 2012.