The African Development Bank to host Continent's top business leaders

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is gathering some 300 African business leaders, including Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), together with 100 bankers and investors, to seek ways of promoting trade within Africa.

“The gathering will highlight the initiatives of African enterprises, allow entrepreneurs to share their experiences, and promote regional and intra-African trade," AfDB President Donald Kaberuka said in a statement Wednesday.

The meeting brings together decision makers from Africa’s public sector to the meeting which take place in Geneva, Switzerland.

“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 general crisis in Europe and the United States,” the AfDB said.

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

Entrepreneurs, investors, financial decision makers and policy makers will gather 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 company and its African markets.

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, are expected at the meeting.

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.

The AfDB said the CEOs were in support of the launch of the first forum for the African private sector.

17-May-2012