• Excellencies, Heads of State and Government
  • Filipe Nyusi, President of the Republic of Mozambique
  • Patrice Trovoada, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe
  • Robert Beugré Mambé, Prime Minister of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire
  • Amir Ben Yahmed, President and Founder of the Africa CEO Forum
  • Makhtar Diop, Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation
  • Honourable Prime Ministers, Ministers and Senior Government Officials
  • Chief Executive Officers, and members of the private sector
  • Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
  • Dear Friends,

I am very pleased to be with you today for the Africa CEO Forum.

First, I wish to welcome you all to Kigali. I hope you will enjoy your stay with us.

I also want to thank the organizers, the Jeune Afrique Group, for hosting Africa’s iconic business conference here in Rwanda, for the second time.

Thank you also to Makhtar Diop and the International Financial Corporation, one of Africa’s most reliable partners.

The private sector, in Africa and the world at large, plays a pivotal role in the trajectory of our development.

Intersecting crises, from the pandemic all the way to climate change, have taught us many important lessons.

Among them is the need for the public and private sector to work closely together.

The urgency to stop doing business as usual is not new.

Over the years, what has become clearer, is that our common challenges can be solved, if we work together.

For our continent, it is equally important to build the capacity to respond swiftly and efficiently to any challenge, and bounce back.

For example, that is why we established the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The rationale is that we have the resources, but we need to be able to share them amongst ourselves.

Here, I also want to add, that the more united Africa is, the more productive our engagement with partners will become.

Integration, for Africa’s business community, is an opportunity to grow our markets, and become more competitive.

Africa does not have to ask for a seat at the table. I want to agree with most of the points made by earlier speakers and I understand their frustration. We share the same.

Today, almost 20 percent of the world is African. By the year 2050, it will be 25 percent.

Soon enough, the only middle class in the world that will still be growing, is Africa’s.

As this century progresses, Africa will increasingly be one of the world’s economic engines.

But to become truly prosperous, we have to upgrade our mindsets, and aim for quality and complexity in our value chains.

We cannot remain a place where people pull rocks out of the ground, which others then turn into high tech products, and sell back to us. It is not sustainable; it is simple and clear.

This will take a lot of time and effort. But Africa can do it.

In everything we do, good governance and politics play a very important role.

Having the solution is not enough.

The willingness to find a middle ground, and not let unnecessary levels of bureaucracy get in the way, can make things work better and faster.

We also need to challenge the status quo across all areas, whether it is in business, politics, or civil society.

Anything that can be done anywhere in this world, can also be done in Africa. And why don’t we just do that?

Once again, thank you all for coming to Kigali.

I hope you will enjoy your stay with us, and come back again and again.

My simple but very important task therefore this morning was to welcome you and thank you, and we are happy to work with you.

Thank you for your kind attention.