The 2017 meetings of the World Economic Forum on Africa began in the South African port city of Durban Wednesday with speakers highlighting the role of leadership in the quest to re-ignite economic growth in the continent.
The continent’s situation is dire, according to speakers at the opening of the meetings.
After almost a decade of fast growth and rising opportunities, much of Africa is stuck in a web of poverty, rising social tensions and famine in at least three of the countries. Four of the five most unequal countries in the world are in Africa and justifiably, citizens are rising up in civil unrest and protest.
Tony Elumelu, Chairman of UBA Group, highlighted the need for employment creation, saying the lack of jobs is quickly becoming a disincentive to education. It is not only up to big business to create jobs, Elumelu added. Encouraging entrepreneurs is critical because their efforts have a significant multiplier effect.
Rich Lesser, global CEO and President of The Boston Consulting Group, BCG, and a Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum on Africa, added his voice to a discussion of the importance of improving education in Africa. “The ticking clock on education is relentless,” he said. Millions of people across Africa do not have access to even basic education. The longer this situation continues, the more Africa’s future will be compromised, he added.
The panel agreed that Africa is not being “future proofed”, with the quality of education failing to address the needs of a rapidly changing world.
In seeking to reshape the narrative, Elumelu whose foundation is implementing an ambitious programme of supporting 1,000 young entrepreneurs from around the continent yearly, said rather than be obsessed with the question of climate change, Africa must prioritize poverty alleviation and job creation.
According to Elumelu, “Africa’s carbon emission level is at a mere 2% and in my view, a more urgent issue has to be that of poverty alleviation and Africa and its leaders have to focus on improving the environment for doing business, through such schemes like improving access to power to promote job creation.”
Lesser said Africa will do well to focus on agriculture, education, infrastructure because of the huge impact that can be made by success in these areas.
He added that while big business will do well, it was not enough to focus on promoting big business alone because of its limitation in creating the quantum of jobs needed for the continent’s burgeoning youth population.
Lindiwe Mazibuko, a former leader of the opposition, Parliament of South Africa, spoke of the urgency of the need to empower new generations of leaders.
According to her, it was futile to ask leaders in the continent to do things different when they have failed, saying it was like giving the leaders another opportunity to make mistakes.
In another panel focusing on South Africa and Nigeria, the two largest economies on the continent, speakers were of the view that giving that both account for about 60% of the collective GDP of the South Saharan Africa economy, efforts must be made to get both countries on a path of sustainable economic growth. The speakers pointed to the absence of intra-African trade as a major plague and advocated aggressive infrastructure building programmes to promote the movement of people and goods.
Africa’s trade within itself is only 10% total and about 70% of Africa’s working youth population live under the poverty line but it was not all gloom and doom.
One speaker said Africa is becoming more stable in more ways than one and if nothing, the continent does not have a leader like Donald Trump to live with in addition to being free from such destabilising trends like Brexit, Frexit and increase in terrorism around the world.
The WEF meetings are being attended by a large Nigerian private sector delegation, which apart from Elumelu also includes Oby Ezewesili, a former Minister of Education, Foluso Phillips, a former chairman of the NESG and CEO of Phillips Consulting, Uzoma Dozie, CEO of Diamond Bank, Bola Onadele of FMDQ, Laoye Jaiyeola, CEO of NESG, Kunle Elebute of KPMG, Chinwe Sagna of JLL, Akin Dawodu, CEO of Citi Bank Nigeria, Henry Egbiki, CEO of Ernst & Young, Sola David Borha, who now has her home in South Africa as CEO of Stanbic for rest of Africa outside South Africa, as well as former Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Austine Okere of Computer Warehouse, Group and Osayi Alile-Orune, a young global of WEF.
BY OUR REPORTER
