Africa CEO Survey 2022: “CEOs ready to face up to crises”
For the third year in a row, The AFRICA CEO FORUM and Deloitte have published their AFRICA CEO SURVEY. Over 190 private sector leaders were interviewed on the five themes of strategy, finance & governance, innovation, human capital, and sustainable development. The report also includes exclusive interviews with some of the continent’s most high-profile leaders: Serge Ekue, President – BOAD; Hassanein Hiridjee, CEO – AXIAN Group; Simon Tiemtore, CEO – VISTA BANK; Patricia Poku Diaby, CEO – PLOT Group; Paul-Harry Aithnard, Regional Managing Director UEMOA – Ecobank; Laïla Ait El Mkadem, Managing Director – Groupe Optorg.
Three exclusive learnings: The Ukrainian crisis affecting confidence
Prior to the impact of the Russian/Ukrainian war, African CEOs’ confidence in the economic perspectives of their industry is robust, even higher than the 2020 figures before the pandemic. More than 78% declared to be confident in the economic prospects, among which 41% are highly confident.
But the war in Ukraine is creating new threats, with 58% of CEOs now reporting a strong to very strong impact on their procurement costs.
Female leadership is growing
25% of CEOs surveyed say that independent directors make up at least 1-10% of their board, and 15% report having between 25% and 50%. Meanwhile, just 7% of companies surveyed this year still do not have any female senior executives, a significant improvement on the 30% in 2020.
Artificial intelligence among innovation priorities
Innovation is focused on areas of interest like payment dematerialisation and internal digitalisation. The use of blockchain and crypto-currencies has increased since 2020 (from 5% to 13%), but seems to be viewed with caution due to a lack of vision and appropriate legal frameworks.
