NAVIGATING THE CRISES
From 300 to 3000: How to deliver the next generation of African champions
In recent years, the world has faced unprecedented crises, from bank failures and surging inflation
to energy shortages and the concerns around the rapid development of AI.
These disruptions have upended the world and led to fundamental shifts in global relations,
with protectionism on the rise and global stability under threat.
Why should African leaders have to sit back and watch while foreign
crises wreak havoc on their currencies and wider economies?
Since the AFRICA CEO FORUM was founded a decade ago, the notion that the private sector
should be the engine of African growth has been firmly anchored in the minds of policy
makers. With the continent’s share of global FDI tripling over that period, the massive flows
into logistics, infrastructure, agribusiness, financial services, real estate, and many other
high-performing sectors have unleashed African business champions; there are now over 300
African companies with billion-dollar turnovers.
“As the world’s most advanced economies have proved,
economic sovereignty requires the promotion of the
continent’s most ambitious companies.”
These regional and continental champions must now learn to adapt to the global ‘polycrisis’
and endure its wide-ranging consequences, as key actors in Africa’s development and
prosperity creation. African leaders have already taken steps to strengthen economic
resilience, develop employment and accelerate onshoring, but empowering the continent’s
largest businesses is essential to bolster sovereignty and grow Africa’s share of global
value chains. As the world’s most advanced economies have shown with their legions
of multinationals, economic sovereignty also demands a favorable environment for the
continent’s largest companies.
On 5 and 6 June in Abidjan, the AFRICA CEO FORUM will convene 1,800 participants to tackle
the ambitious challenge of how to turn crisis into advantage, urgently and sustainably:
• From food systems to the industrial opportunities of the green energy transition… which
industries must Africa prioritize in its search for strategic autonomy?
• How can Africa 10x the number of billion dollar companies? Which public policies are
required to transform family businesses into regional champions?
• What role will the nascent tech and AI scene play in this transformation, and how can Africa
build the local talent pool needed in science and engineering to achieve these ambitions?
• Sustainability, finance and trade: What is the clout of the African private sector in major
global debates?