FT Africa Summit 2019 – Efforts through roadmaps to unlock huge biz potential

Africa is bursting with immense potential in all the sectors and entrepreneurs across the world getting more and more interested to invest. Some of the few reasons for Africa’s immense potential is untapped markets in varied segments for decades and natural resources. Although for centuries Africa had been observed as a continent to exploit, then the time was different, so thus the trades. Now the time has changed and the continent has become a battleground on which superpower rivalries (increasingly the US and China) are giving their best in their expansion through multiplication in investment budgets. Financial Times (FT) Africa Summit 2019 is a perfect podium for those seekers who want to expand their networks and augment insight on current business situations in the African nations.

FT Africa Summit 2019 is slated to take place between October 13 and 14 in London. Last year, the Summit featured high profile speakers in politics, businesses and economics including heads of state to making business central to their development goals. The Summit has increased its fame and popularity for inviting the speakers from varied sectors such government bodies, non-profit organizations, banking, financial services, technology firms, infrastructure, industrial goods and services, consultants etc.

A few names of past speakers who attended FT Africa Summit are President of Ghana, Nana Afuko-Addo; Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo; Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair; Chairperson of Sonangol (daughter of Angola’s former President José Eduardo dos Santos), Isabel dos Santos; Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Nubuke Investments LLP, Tutu Agyare; Founder of Ghana’s largest software company, SOFTtribe, Herman Chinery-Hesse; Co-Founder and Publishing Director, Cassava Republic Press, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf; Chapel Hill Denham’s CEO, Mobolaji Balogun; Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s founder, Mo Ibrahim; Dangote Group’s President, Aliko Dangote etc.

The upcoming FT Africa Summit 2019 will have the moderators – Lionel Barber and David Pilling, the editors at Financial Times, including BBC correspondent, Nancy Kacungira. The high profile speakers include South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa; Ghana’s Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia; Managing Director, Head of Sub Saharan Africa (Ex-RSA), Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Yvonne Ike; Econet Wireless’ founder, Strive Masiyiwa; National Bank of Angola’s Governor, José de Lima Massano; Fairfax Africa Fund’s Global Chairman, Zemedeneh Negatu; Belgian microbiologist known for research into AIDS and Ebola, Peter Piot; Chairman of Richemont and Remgro, Johann Rupert; Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa, Vera Songwe to name a few.

The aim of this panel is to dig out and reveal some of the sciences coming out of Africa including the contributions from some of those stalwarts who are doing the most inspiring works. Unfortunately, the world often fails to acknowledge the vital innovations emerging from Africa. The panel will also discuss the digital revolution in Africa, and the continent’s severe potential to thrive modern technologies, information and communications technology (ICT), artificial intelligence, mobile revolution etc. in developing the economies. Africa’s digital potential is once again recognized by the continent largest online retailer, Jumia. The launching of African technology centres in Nigeria and Kenya by Microsoft, IBM’s association with South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand and launching of world’s first medical drone delivery centre in Ghana are the perfect examples that the continent is severely poised to grow and has immense potentiality if the right influx of investment and ideas from great tycoons and thinkers are provided. Thus, the panel looks further to thrash out varied similar issues in diverse sectors.

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