African Media Agency is reporting that that UN Global Compact will convene Africa’s private sector on December 3 and that Deputy Secretary-General Amina J Mohammed will address the group to discuss progress on the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa.
Making Global Goals Local Business — Africa will be convened by in collaboration with Global Compact Local Networks in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Tanzania, Morocco, and the Indian Ocean and Mauritius Regional Network.
The Youth and Innovation session will feature entrepreneurs and graduate students. Breakout sessions featuring business leaders like Karuku from EABL and Muselet of Crédit du Maroc will tackle Climate Action: Anniversary of the Paris Agreement and the Role of Business, Gender Equality, and Water Resilience.
The one-day online event is themed “Uniting Business for the Africa We Want: Decade of Action and Opportunities” and is expected to attract dozens of journalists and more than 3,000 attendees, mainly from the private sector.
Marking the 20th anniversary of the UN Global Compact, which was founded by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the event will feature top African executives, including Celestin Mukeba, CEO, Equity Bank Congo; Phyllis Wakiaga, CEO, Kenya Association of Manufacturers; Siddarth Ramaswamy, vice-president (Supply Chain), Unilever West Africa; Jane Karuku, CEO, EABL (Kenya); HE Hanna Tetteh, special representative of the UN Secretary-General to the African Union; Brahim Benjelloun, executive director, Bank of Africa Group BMCE (Morocco), Prosper Burnson, executive director, Green Carbon (Ghana), Richard Rushton, CEO, Distell (South Africa), Samuel Kimeu, Member of the Board, Africa Union Advisory Board Against Corruption; Bernard Muselet, CEO, Credit du Maroc (Morocco), Sanda Ojiambo, CEO and executive director, UN Global Compact, and others.
Sessions will explore many of the key issues African countries are confronting head-on to achieve progress to develop sustainably in the coming years, including the impact of COVID-19.
For example, the African Decade of Action session will put the business community’s challenge in the context of reaching the SDGs by 2030, the target deadline for the global goals, which include ending poverty and hunger, improving health and wellbeing, broadening access to clean water and sanitation, and the sustainable build out of industry, innovation, and infrastructure.
