NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 13 – The African Hidden Champions (AHC) initiative held its second annual summit in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe between September 28 and 30.
The AHC Summit brought together key African business leaders, AHC partners and supporters to discuss Africa’s private sector at a time of great geo-political uncertainty.
Set against the incomparable backdrop of Victoria Falls, this year’s summit stirred lively debate and surfaced new ideas for African businesses intent on competing with the world’s best companies.
Three key themes animated the discussions over the course of three days: the role of African business in achieving Net Zero; positioning companies to “go global”; and building and retaining African talent.
Speaking at the close of the summit, Dr. Abdu Mukhtar, Director of the Industrial & Trade Development department at The African Development Bank Group said, “I am impressed by the work that the AHC companies do and the passion and motivation of their leaders. The summit provided us with a platform to further understand the possibilities of what the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) can achieve together with these companies in the future. The companies are working in sectors that are important to the development of the continent, which is something that we are also passionate about and committed to supporting. We believe that we must all contribute to the overall economic well-being and progress of the continent and this can be achieved by promoting enterprise development.”
Franziska Hollmann, Director Industries & Services Africa and EMECA at DEG, added that
“At DEG we are committed in our support for African businesses. This includes financing as well as knowledge sharing especially with regard to sustainable and impactful investments. We value this summit as an opportunity to meet business leaders in an enclosed and intimate setting that allows for candid conversations on their experiences. The level of engagement is invaluable and we believe it will have a lasting impact on the way their businesses operate and grow sustainably. DEG looks forward to continuing this tradition of knowledge exchange and collaboration in future editions of the summit.”
A highlight from the 3-day summit was the awards ceremony that saw select AHC members recognised. The awardees included East African Holding Group from Ethiopia who were awarded Industrialisation Champion; innovative fintech company, MFS Africa, as Emerging Global Champion; Kenya-based pan-African payments company, Cellulant, for Resilient Leadership; and East African fruit and drinks giant, Kevian Kenya, as Eco-system Champions.
“We need to be deliberate in the creation of regional centres of excellence across the continent. Everything does not have to be located in one country. If Kenya proves itself to be good in ICT, let us invest and scale up the ICT ecosystem in Kenya for ICT. If Nigeria proves to be good in refineries, let us use their capability to be able to supply the needs of Africa to become sufficient in terms of energy security, which is vital in the growth of industries,” said Kuseni Dlamini, Chairman Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, during the awards ceremony.
The Summit is part of a number of events that the AHC is hosting across Africa to engage with its members, business leaders and policy makers.
“We understand the importance of us gathering with the members of the network, partners and friends to deliberate on some of the most important topics affecting them. The summit offers both us and the attending business leaders a chance to step away from our hectic schedules and dedicate time to sharing ideas that are vital for the success of our daily business endeavours,” Yasmin Kumi , Co-Founder African Hidden Champions concluded.
The African Hidden Champions initiative was founded in 2020 to promote the growth of African companies and aid their transformation into global champions. The initiative is supported by three co-partners, the Africa Foresight Group (AFG), DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft, and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
