East Africa’s Top CEOs meet to exploit the region’s emerging growth opportunities

         Issues affecting East African region’s economic progression are expected to take centre stage at this year’s East Africa Business Summit (EABS) to be held in Kigali, Rwanda as from June 4 - 6.

          The two-day Summit, themed Positioning East Africa for Inclusive Prosperity in 2020 and beyond, is expected to bring together over 100 top Chief Executives Officers, financiers and government officials who will also discuss ways of exploiting emerging opportunities in various industries and geographies. The Summit will be opened by Rwanda President Paul Kagame.

        Key on the Summit’s agenda will be discussions around how to manage mineral wealth for broad-based and inclusive economic development, regional labour policies and practices for efficient business and investing in Africa’s emerging entrepreneurs for inclusive prosperity.

Speaking ahead of the Summit, Leonard Mususa, Country Senior Partner, PwC Tanzania said the conference would provide a perfect platform to pull together business ideas and turn East Africa into an economic power house.

       “As industry leaders, we believe East Africa’s economic transformation can only be meaningful and sustainable if it’s inclusive. The region will only remain conducive for business if inclusiveness is intentionally pursued by all stakeholders,” he said.

        The Summit is also expected to provide a stage for business leaders from Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Southern Sudan, Burundi and Rwanda to engage with policymakers to address gaps in the business ecosystem thus ensuring that the door is opened to create prosperity in the region.

        According to the Chairman of the Convenors’ Committee Linus Gitahi, the CEOs will explore ways to navigate the numerous opportunities emerging in East Africa, discuss and forward the emerging impediments to business growth to the policy makers so that they can act on them.

  “We will harness the competitive advantages of the different nations in order to enable the region to play its rightful role in the global community,” he said.  

         East Africa Business Summit was established in 2002 as a joint initiative of Citibank, Deloitte, KPMG, Nation Media Group, PwC and The Serena Hotels. Its mission is to bring together the best business minds in the region to engage with policymakers in order to order to catalyse a true economic transformation of the East African region.

        Over the years, the Summit has delivered actionable outcomes. Deliberations at the Summit have inspired and/or garnered critical support for major projects critical to an enabling economic environment in areas such as boosting connectivity, value-addition in agriculture, infrastructure, a technology city/Silicon Savannah and intra-regional trade.

…Ends…