New York — The Summit of Africa's Young Business Leaders (SAYBL) will bring exceptional achievers from leading universities in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa to America for one week of discussion and debate around the themes of "Africa as a Place of Opportunity" and, "The Challenge of Leadership in Africa", with the goal of formulating a shared vision of how they can use their expertise to contribute to the economic resurgence of Africa. Summit participants were chosen on the basis of their academic and leadership achievements, entrepreneurial endeavor, and community involvement. At the end of the Summit each participant will be required to commit to their own project aimed at developing young African leaders. SAYBL will be an annual event, creating a network of excellent young leaders spanning the African continent.
SAYBL will take place from December 9th - 16th, 2006 and has the support of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Desmond Tutu among other prominent advisory board members from across Africa and the United States. SAYBL is sponsored by multi-national organizations with a commitment to Africa, including the International Finance Corporation (the private sector arm of the World Bank), Diageo Africa, and Ecobank Ghana.
The first two days of the Summit will be held at the International Finance Corporation in Washington, D.C., where the students will discuss their roles and responsibilities as African leaders in sessions moderated by Professor Peter Reiling of the Aspen Institute. The participants will then travel to New York City, where they will participate in lectures on equity and fixed income markets in African economies, tour the New York Stock Exchange and Bloomberg, and meet executives at New York's leading financial institutions. They will then visit Princeton University as guests of the Student Microfinance Initiative, and spend a day discussing the possibilities of microfinance in African economies.
SAYBL is the brainchild of five friends with a deep commitment to Africa: Four of the organizers are African-American, and the fifth is a South African. They all graduated together from Harvard University before starting work at various investment banks, and quickly realized that they could use the vast resources available to them on Wall Street to the benefit of Africa. Their vision for SAYBL is of a genuine partnership between Africa and the West, benefiting both in the true spirit of the New Partnership for Africa's Development.
For further information, contact Yusuf Randera-Rees <yranderarees@gmail.com>.
