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Highlights from Wednesday 10 June
World Economic Forum on Africa opens with call for global governance reforms
Press Release I Session summary I Photos
Press release I Photos I Schwab Foundation
Kenya takes the lead in Business Alliance Against Chronic Hunger
Press release I Photos I Business Alliance Against Chronic Hunger
Kofi Annan launches the Africa Progress Panel (APP) Annual Report 2009 at World Economic Forum on Africa Financial development, trade crucial to African competitiveness  African businesses can become far more competitive, but African governments and their international partners will need to improve access to finance, resist pressure to erect trade barriers, upgrade infrastructure, improve healthcare and educational systems, and strengthen institutions. That's according to a major new report, The Africa Competitiveness Report 2009, which reflects research efforts of three institutions: the World Economic Forum, the African Development Bank and the World Bank. The report also points to a number of success stories in the region that highlight steps countries could take.
Press Release I Report | Rankings | Photos |
While the London G20 Summit represented a step towards a more inclusive global governance system, further institutional reforms are badly needed to ensure the interests of low-income countries are adequately represented, according to national leaders and other participants gathered at this year’s World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town. They urged the major industrialized countries to accept long-stalled changes in the governing structures of the IMF and the World Bank. “A critical lesson from the current crisis is the need for a transformed global financial system,” Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa, said in his opening address.
The Schwab Foundation has recognized three new social entrepreneurs with significant impact in the region as winners of the Africa Regional Social Entrepreneurs Award for 2009. David Kuria, Chief Executive Officer, Ecotact, Kenya; Patrick Schofield, Chief Executive Officer, Streetwires Artists Collective, South Africa; Mitchell J. Besser and Gene Falk, Co-Founders of mothers2mothers, active in Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia, will join other leading social entrepreneurs at the World Economic Forum on Africa, on 10-12 June 2009.
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and a group of CEOs announced today at a press conference during the 2009 World Economic Forum on Africa that Kenyan leaders will take over an innovative business alliance aimed at reducing hunger in Africa. The Alliance, coordinated by a Kenya-based secretariat, comprises over 30 companies and organizations working to develop business-led solutions to hunger. Alliance members have developed innovative business models through 14 on-the-ground initiatives in a Kenyan pilot district creating 150 small-scale businesses, increasing the income and production of 2,300 farmers and reaching thousands of consumers with improved products and services.
Kofi Annan, speaking at the launch of the APP Annual Report 2009 on the opening day of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town called on African leaders to turn the current global economic meltdown into an opportunity for the continent based on shared responsibility with their international partners. The report, launched at the World Economic Forum on Africa by panellists Kofi Annan, Graça Machel and Linah Mohohlo, states that the global economic crisis imported from the North is hitting Africa harder than any other region.
