Global Courant
On Monday, June 5, 2023, Africa’s top leaders, including presidents, heads of state, heads of government, top CEOs and leaders of multilateral companies, gathered in Ivory Coast for the annual African CEO Forum summit to deliberate on how the rise of the to realize and accelerate the next generation of African champions, from 300 to 3,000.
Recent economic trends in less than half a decade, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, energy shortage, global warming, war between Russia and Ukraine and rising global inflation, have awakened the continent to the economic gaps that need to be addressed. Thus, these global market events have led to unprecedented negative economic reactions. Why should African leaders sit back and watch as foreign crises wreak havoc on their currencies and wider economies?
Africa has some of the world’s mineral deposits in high reserves. For example, copper and cobalt can be found in the central, southern, northern, and eastern regions. Significant deposits have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Madagascar, Morocco, South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Globally, DRC is the largest producer of cobalt, the fourth largest producer of copper and the second largest producer of diamonds. As of 2021, the Central African country accounted for more than 60 percent of the world’s cobalt. But Africa needs effective government-stakeholder collaboration to harness this potential.
For about a decade, the Africa CEO Forum has vigorously defended the idea that the private sector should be the engine of African growth in the minds of policymakers. Some of the topics discussed on the first day of the event include food security, trade, public-private partnerships and youth engagement, AI technology and the battle for Africa’s natural gas, etc. Below are some of the main conclusions of the event:
On private-public cooperation for food sovereignty
Insights from the forum indicate that the Kingdom of Morocco and the Republic of Ivory Coast are vying to play a larger role in global value chains. Morocco’s head of government, Aziz Akhannouch, signed a new investment charter in March 2023, while Ivory Coast’s prime minister, Patrick Achi, recently held talks with the leaders of the US and China, both of whom are seeking to boost post-COVID foreign investment. Both governments want to establish effective partnerships with international communities and private sector players to improve critical sectors of their economies, such as agriculture and infrastructure.
“In Ivory Coast, food sovereignty is unique. Thus, the state makes the hydro-agricultural dam available to the private sector. We understand that when basic infrastructure is not available in an economy, it becomes very difficult for the private sector to play their role,” said Patrick Achi, Prime Minister of Ivory Coast.
As African governments join forces to ensure food security on the continent, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is an opportunity that should be fully exploited. While opportunities abound, there is limited knowledge sharing in Sub-Saharan Africa in the field of AfTCTA, creating a need for greater access to information, especially in the area of manufacturing.
“There is a need for private and public investment for the trade of imported goods in the AfCFTA. There are huge opportunities for countries in Africa to trade in their free trade zones,” said Aziz Akhannouch, head of government of the Kingdom of Morocco.
About financing small businesses and developing talent
In sub-Saharan countries such as Nigeria, small businesses or the informal sector are an important economic driver. They fall within that aspect of the economy that is largely untaxed or controlled by any form of government. They are the engine room of many emerging economies around the world.
Poverty, poor education and unemployment are the main causes of the rapid growth of the informal sector in most societies. The sector accounts for 65 percent of economic activities in Nigeria, accounts for nearly 90 percent of new jobs, 80 percent of all non-agricultural employment and about 60 percent of urban jobs created.
“It is important to fund small business development in Africa as it would create millions of jobs. We must gradually reduce non-tariff barriers between economic zones on the continent,” said Makhtar Diop, Managing Director, IFC. “The number of private-public partnerships in Africa is not enough. There is a need to strengthen and promote more of these partnerships for the development of the African continent. “
According to Jeremy Awori, Group CEO of Ecobank, African leaders need to invest more in their people. It starts with the kind of education it offers them. Governments should invest in young people, treat them as highly valuable resources and create opportunities for them.
“The world has changed and we have a lot of young people who don’t want to work like they have for the past 20 years. They work in different ways and are driven by different things. So I think we need to look at the environment they work in and the capabilities they work in. This is because they are driven by a sense of purpose to work for a much greater purpose than just making money,” said Jeremy Awori, Group CEO, Ecobank.
