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Dear Friends
Welcome to the 11th Harvard Business School Africa Business Conference! This year, the conference will be centered around the theme “Africa on the Move: Transforming Quick Wins into Lasting Change”. Over the last 10 years, African countries have experienced dramatic growth with renewed opportunities in the fields of business, finance and entrepreneurship. As a result of these positive developments, Africans have enjoyed higher standards of living and increased prosperity. In order to capitalize on this progress, the 11th Annual Africa Business Conference will be focused on Sustainability and Scalability. Over the past few years, the continent has grown at unprecedented rates, with some countries having experienced growth rates over 10% and many of them becoming top investment destinations. Consequently, innovative approaches have been developed to serve the needs of the bottom of the pyramid, the size of the middle class has increased and national capital markets and stock markets have experienced spectacular growth. With this new era of Africa’s development, a few questions come to mind. How do we ensure that the lessons learnt by one country are applied in other countries? How do we ensure these new opportunities are available to all segments of society? How can we protect the fundamentals of African economies to withstand financial crises and other external shocks? How can we capitalize on the progress we’ve made to create opportunities in the fields of healthcare, education and energy to benefit larger communities? As successful African businesses, what is our responsibility to the local communities we operate in? Is Africa’s infrastructure developing quickly enough to enable the continent to successfully exploit its resources and opportunities? These are some of the questions we will be answering so that we can all contribute to lasting progress in Africa.
As we look back on how far we have come and look to the future to take the African business opportunity and environment to new heights, we want to take the time to reflect and brainstorm to ensure that Africa’s successes are shared across geographic and industry lines. Our distinguished list of panelists and keynotes will speak about the human and financial resources they had to mobilize to reach their goals and transform the continent and what needs to be done to grow and perpetuate these gains. It is only thanks to the diverse perspectives that participants bring in terms of experience and education that we can continue to use the conference as a springboard for action.
We look forward to your arrival! Regards, Raphael Afaedor Fayelle Ouane Conference Co-Chairs, 2009 Africa Business Conference |