Africa CEO Forum Launched At African Development Bank Annual Meeting

The Africa CEO forum (ACF) was officially launched by Tim Turner, AfDB private sector operations Director, and Amir Ben Yahmed, Vice President of Groupe Jeune Afrique and founder and executive producer of the event, at the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Arusha, Tanzania.

The Africa CEO Forum is the first international conference dedicated to top African companies, and breaks the mould of typical sector-focused events and run-of-the-mill academic forums. On 20 and 21 November 2012 in Geneva, it will bring together 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 companies and their African markets.

For the AfDB, co-organizer of the event, the Africa CEO Forum fits perfectly into the AfDB’s mission, which is to foster an environment conducive to business and private sector development for the transformation and a more inclusive growth of the African economy. “It will showcase the initiatives and the success stories of African entrepreneurship, allow entrepreneurs to share their experiences, and promote regional and intra-African trade,” said Tim Turner.

“As an annual gathering of Francophone and Anglophone Africa’s most brilliant CEO’s and major African and international decision makers, the ACF will be a unique platform dedicated to supporting private sector-led growth in Africa. In an increasingly connected world economy, it will also  promote the rise of leading African companies”, concluded Amir Ben Yahmed, Vice President of Groupe Jeune Afrique.

Several heads of Africa’s most prominent companies have already confirmed their attendance. Among them feature Aliko Dangote, CEO of Nigeria’s largest industrial conglomerate, Jean-Louis Billon, president of Sifca, Cote d’Ivoire’s biggest private employer, Issad Rebrad, CEO of Cevital, the leading private group in Algeria, Terrab Mostafa, CEO of the Moroccan company OCP, the world’s major phosphates exporter, and Mark Cutifani, who heads South African mining group, AngloGold Ashanti. Other major international company chiefs who have announced their attendance at the Geneva meeting include Tidjane Thiam, CEO of top British insurance group, Prudential, and Sunny Verghese, CEO of Olam, the agribusiness multinational based in Singapore.

2 Comments

1. 

   Larry2

   June 8, 2012 at 8:32 am

   Meeting in Geneva? African CEO’s continue to function in a backward mode of operation. C’mon, give me a break- why must they continue to spend huge sums in travel and hospitality in Europe rather than bolstering Africa’s own economies, after all its about the African Development Bank isn’t it; or is it European Development at Africa expense.
   These kinds of acts really piss me off. Africans must show pride in themselves if they want others to do the same. One NEVER read where Europeans select an African meeting destination only unless it is to kill something on a safari. What’s with that?
2. 

   Larry2

   June 8, 2012 at 8:32 am

   Meeting in Geneva? African CEO’s continue to function in a backward mode of operation. C’mon, give me a break- why must they continue to spend huge sums in travel and hospitality in Europe rather than bolstering Africa’s own economies, after all its about the African Development Bank isn’t it; or is it European Development at Africa expense.
   These kinds of acts really piss me off. Africans must show pride in themselves if they want others to do the same. One NEVER read where Europeans select an African meeting destination only unless it is to kill something on a safari. What’s with that?