BigBusiness Africa, a Johannesburg-based continental business body, is organising a conference, which is set to be held in South Africa in October. The event is expected to focus on ideas, collaboration and trade. The organisation announced this in a media statement issued this week.
“On the 16th and 17th of October 2024, BigBusiness Africa is hosting a continental ideas, collaboration and trade conference for up to 1 000 business leaders, industry experts, entrepreneurs, policymakers, investors and media representatives from Africa and the diaspora. A key objective of the upcoming Africa Business Conference is to have discussions that will assist industry leaders and entrepreneurs to “Define the New Era” of doing business in Africa,” read part of the statement.
The event has its basis in the quest to develop business strategies in a continent that keeps changing fast. The idea started last year.
“Designing a winning strategy in complex African and global markets is the art of asking questions, experimenting and then constantly renewing the thinking process by questioning the answers. And this is what we seek to do in this conference that was birthed through a cross-border collaboration with the board president of the organisation, Ms Pandora Mabai, a year later in 2024,” BigBusiness Africa Chief Executive Officer, Stephene Chikozho (pictured) explained.
According to Mabai, the event is a demonstration of and a vehicle for BigBusiness Africa’s commitment to fostering business growth, collaboration and innovation across the continent.
“We see ourselves as agents of change that are focused on building a thriving ecosystem for businesses on the African continent. Our aim for this year’s conference is to highlight the continent’s dynamic business environment, emerging markets and innovative entrepreneurial spirit. We have put together dynamic industry leaders to share their insights and engage the delegates in robust discussions on a broad range of issues and industry sectors,” Mabai commented.
The conference organisers have assembled a line-up of almost 20 speakers from various countries and backgrounds across the globe to share perceptions and experiences during the meeting. These include Zimbabweans, WestProp Holdings Chief Executive Officer, Dr Ken Sharpe, ZimBuild Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tinashe Manzungu and United Kingdom-based computer engineer, Tigere Rangwani.
According to the statement, the event’s programme is expected to be characterised by a mix of sessions with panel discussions, and master classes discussing issues across a range of industry sectors namely agriculture, the built environment and infrastructure, creative industries and sport, education and leadership development, energy, financial services and digital currencies, government complex, health, beauty and pharmaceuticals, logistics and transport, mining and beneficiation, telecommunications, technology and artificial intelligence, trading and services.
