11th African Private Sector Forum

Share:

novembre 06, 2019 to novembre 08, 2019

“Transforming African economies through private sector mobilization and capitalization of experiences from other regions of the world”

Registration closed

1. About the 11th Edition African Union Private Sector Forum.

The African Union Commission, has throughout the years worked closely with the private sector to define the significant role and great contribution by the Private sector in driving the economic development Agenda of the continent. The efforts are a demonstration of the African Union’s commitment towards enhancing the private sector capacity to contribute towards the realization of Agenda 2063 and be part of the global value-chain, for inclusive and sustainable growth in Africa. The African Annual Private Sector Forum has over the years expanded its participation and remains one of the strategic platforms organized by the African Union Commission to engage policymakers, private sector representatives, academia, civil societies and development organizations, among other key stakeholders.

The AU Commission is organizing the 11th Edition under the theme “Transforming African Economies through mobilization of the Private sector and the Capitalization of Good practices from other regions of the world”. The 2019 Forum is bringing together high-profile and influential African and international businessmen and women to share their experiences and provide engaging and thought-provoking discussions that would drive momentum in implementing and/or enhancing policies for thriving business environment. The 11th Edition is expected to attract investors and encourage greater business transactions, especially within the context of the recently launched African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCTA) and marshal advocacy, sharing of information and commercial skills for the transformation of African economies. Read the concept note here.

in its previous ten (10) Editions, the Forum has evolved to focus on the wide range of Africa’s development priorities and successfully provided a platform for information exchange, business networking and policy recommendations including business development services, regulatory reforms, and capacity-building for women and youth, with a particular focus on strengthening local micro, small and medium size enterprises.

Read reports from previous Editions of the African Private Sector Forum

2. Objectives of the Forum.

This forum will offer rich and varied opportunities of engagement in the Business to Business (B2B); Business to Government (B2G); Business to Others (B2O); and Others to Others (O2O) models.

It is a great opportunity to;

Advance dialogue on issues of economic development between policy makers, specialized development agencies and financial institutions, civil societies, private sectors, researchers, and professional organizations.
Explore avenues for greater private sector’s role and contribution to Africa’s growth and economic transformation.
Promote and reinforce exchanges between the African private sector and international private sector stakeholders, investors, policy makers and entrepreneurs.
Empower the private sector as catalyst in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Celebrate and recognize the best performing African Manufacturers in the “Made in Africa” Award.
Explore complementary interventions to boost competitiveness and improve Africa’s investment and business climate;
Provide recommendations on the economic development challenges in Africa, for consideration in the 2020 Ordinary session of the African Union Heads of State and Governments Summit.

3. The thematic sessions.

The High-Level sessions and discussions aim to drive the realization of various Agenda 2063 flagship projects and programmes such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA); the African Financial Institutions; the African Economic Platform; the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP); Gender and Youth Empowerment, among other key projects.

1. African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

This session will focus on the African Union’s vision to create one African Trade market. It will explore ways to accelerate intra-African trade and boosting Africa’s trading position in the global market by strengthening Africa’s common voice and policy space in global trade negotiations. Africa is, by creating the African Continental Free Trade Area also signaling to the wider world that she is committed to multilateralism and global interdependence. This session seeks to identify entry points to enhance stakeholder engagement on the implementation of the AfCFTA and increase participation opportunities in the work programme of the AfCFTA.

2. Agribusiness development.

The potential contribution of Africa’s agriculture to food and nutrition security, employment, household incomes, poverty reduction and economic growth is significant. This session will focus on accelerating the implementation of efforts to engage the private sector community in identifying and seizing opportunities for their increased participation in the development of agricultural value chains in Africa in the process of sustaining the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).This will be an opportunity to identify high priority strategies designed to support the growth of a modern, robust and inclusive private sector-led African agribusiness to give impetus to the realization of a vibrant agribusiness and agritrade business environment by improving coordination, mobilization, advocacy, and communication among various actors in the agribusiness landscape.

This session of the Forum will allow the private sector to participate in the productivity of African agriculture and the sustainable agro-food industry, while addressing agricultural development from the point of view of the development of rural entrepreneurship and the transformation of agricultural raw materials through industrialization. It will also address the critical issue of climate change with a view to developing a resilient and prosperous agricultural sector in Africa.

3. Digitalization in Africa

This session will focus on incorporating emerging technologies in Africa’s development plans and ensuring these technologies are used for the benefit of African individuals, institutions and nation states providing experience sharing and input towards the implementation of African Strategies and policies relating to Digitalization in line with Agenda 2063 flagship project on the Pan –African E-Network. The session will support the integration of technologies in enterprises and address the issue of investments that will need to be generated accordingly. It will also discuss developing strategies to encourage African industries breakthroughs in core technologies and take advantage of the Internet to reshape development. For African citizens, the true promise of connectivity and digitization is the eradication of poverty, equal opportunities for all, enhanced quality of life and opportunities for entrepreneurship. Strengthening the African digital and technological ecosystems is paramount as they are the foundations for 21st century’s knowledge economy and are key enablers of sustainable innovations and new employment opportunities. The AUC is currently developing an African Digital Transformation Strategy to be presented to Heads of State and Government at the next AU Summit in February 2020. The outcomes of these discussions will greatly contribute to this Strategy.

4. Capacity building of Women and Youth Entrepreneurs

Women and youth must be at the centre of the planning and operations of the private sector engagement. This session seeks to advance the AU Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa and the commitment to youth empowerment, with a view to giving new impetus to the commitments agreed at the global and regional levels in the following areas: poverty, economic empowerment and entrepreneurship; agriculture and food security; ; education, science and technology; environment and climate change; peace and security; governance and legal protection; finance and budget; women in decision-making positions and promotion of gender equality.

A 3-day Capacity Building for Women and Youth Entrepreneurs will be held ahead of the Private Sector Forum from 3-5 November 2019. In line with THE Commission’s mandate to include Gender engagement programmes in the continental integration and development areas, this will be an opportunity to provide a platform for Women an Youth Entrepreneurs in key sectors such as Agriculture, Energy, Digitalization and Innovation and others, to get equipped with a number of skills that will help push their businesses forward. The theme of the Capacity Building will be ““Empowering women and youth with Modern self-employability and creative entrepreneurial skills” and Training sessions will include Market Analysis; Marketing; Project Identification; Project Financial Management; Facilitating access to Finance for Entrepreneurs to name a few.

5. Experience sharing of the private sector from South-South countries and other parts of the world

This session will focus on learning from best practices and lessons learned from other South-South countries around the World in relations to the development of their private sectors. It will also be an opportunity to encourage networking among the different stakeholders in view of the need to integrate African economies into regional and global economies and taking into account the opportunities offered by the sharing of information and business skills as well as the development of the business network between private actors in these areas. It would be beneficial to discuss ways and means to implement for cooperation between the stakeholders and thus create a strong synergy of development between South-South countries.

6. Financing investments in key sectors of African transformation

Africa is overcoming the historic fragmentation and isolation of her economies by opening up huge commercial opportunities as well as improving transport and communication linkages among our countries. This aggregation and connectivity of forces for accelerated growth and sustainable development of African countries will enable us and realize the vision of the African Union and Agenda 2063 for ‘An integrated, prosperous, and peaceful Africa, driven by its citizens, representing a dynamic force in the global arena.

The session on Financing and Investing in the transformation of African economies will provide an opportunity for constructive dialogue among stakeholders on possible mechanisms, to provide opportunities for co-financing investments in key sectors of the economy; and to discuss alternative financing partnerships open to businesses to support their development and thereby accelerate economic transformation on the continent. Private Sector and Youth Skills Development in Africa

7. Private Sector and Youth Skills Development in Africa

In line with the African Union’s initiative 1Millionby2021 whose goal is to reach 1 Million African Youth aged from 18 to 35 in the key areas of Employment, Entrepreneurship, Education and Engagement, a session will be organized on Private sector and Youth Skills Development. Discussions from this session will be centred on the role of private sector in skilling youth for jobs of today and tomorrow. Critical focus will be on private sector engagement, and the generation of labour market information that could enable better planning and provision of market relevant skills.

8. Innovative Strategies for promoting tourism

Tourism is a great contributor to economic development of Countries. Tourists can contribute to greater Sales, Income, Job creation and other sectors of a countries economy, This session will focus on finding Innovative ways to build the African Tourism sector as a major contributor for Socio-Economic development in Africa as outlined in Aspiration 1 of the African Union for a “A prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development”.

The session will provide a public-private platform for exploring winning strategies for enhancing tourism and will focus on ideas on how to better promote African countries in terms of marketing and investment.

4. Participants at the 11th Edition of the African Private Sector Forum

The African Union
The United Nations
The International Organization for Francophonie (OIF)
High Level Business CEOs and Influencers from Africa and other parts of the world
Private sector organizations
Women and Youth Entrepreneurs
African SMEs, Innovators and Start-Up
Regional and International Organizations.
Regional Economic Communities (RECs)
African Union Organs
Financial Institutions (including Trade and Development Banks, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA), etc.)
Manufacturers Associations
Representatives of chambers of commerce, foreign economic relations boards, Business Councils and Private Sector Support Organizations
Civil Society Organizations.
Academia

5. Information note for participants.

Participants attending the 11th African Private Sector Forum are advised to read the following general information that may be helpful in planning for their travel to Antananarivo, Madagascar. Participants are also encouraged to keep a copy of the information note for the duration of their participation at the Forum. Click here

6. Side Events.

The 11th African Private sector Forum will include the following side events

3 – 5 November 2019 - Building Capacity in Entrepreneurship and Leadership for Youth and Women Empowerment. The event will be held under the theme “empowering women and youth with Modern self-employability and creative entrepreneurial skills”. Read more on this event https://au.int/en/newsevents/20191103/building-capacity-entrepreneurship-and-leadership-youth-and-women-empowerment

4-5 November 2019- The session “Women in STEM Africa: 2nd Meeting of the Secretariat and Stakeholders to review the findings of the mapping and program conceptualization reports and pave the way forward” is a 2 day event held from 4 to 5 November 2019 organized by UNOSSC at the Carlton Hotel Anosy in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Click here for the concept note

5 November 2019 - The session “Investing in the Sustainable Development Goals through South-South and Triangular Cooperation: Promoting conducive policy and legal environment in the Africa Region” is a half a day session to be held on 5 November 2019, organized in collaboration with UNOSSC, AUC and UNDP at the Carlton Hotel Anosy in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Click here for the concept note

5 November 2019 – The launch of the African Development Dynamics 2019 and Domestic Resource Mobilization. This event will be an opportunity to launch the fighting against Corruption and Illicit Financial Flows reports. Read more on this event https://au.int/en/newsevents/20191105/launch-african-development-dynamics-2019-and-domestic-resource-mobilization

7. Register for the event.

To register for the 11th African Private Sector Forum and/or the preceding Capacity Building Workshop for Youth and Women Entrepreneurship, please fill and submit the Selection Criteria registration form here

Please fill the Registration Form located under the Attachments Tab below and send the completed form to Ms. Anais Georges (GeorgesA@africa-union.org) and EconomicAffairs@africa-union.org . Your Application will be reviewed by the AUC Organizing Committee and if selected, you will be contacted directly by email.

8. Communication and media activities.

There will be scheduled press briefings and opportunities for one-on-one interviews. The opening and closing sessions will be livestreamed from the African Union platforms. There will be coverage on social media platforms.

9. For more information about the Private sector Forum, kindly contact the Forum organizers and coordinators:

Mr. Islam Swaleh
Ag. Head, Private Sector Development, Resource Mobilization and Investments
Department of Economic Affairs
Email: SwalehI@africa-union.org

Ms. Anais Georges
Department of Economic Affairs
Tel: +251 94 182 968
Email: GeorgesA@africa-union.org

Ms. Djeinaba Kane
Department of Economic Affairs
Tel: (+251) 11 551 2663
Email: KaneD@africa-union.org

Affairtes économiques