AfDB's Support for Countries Underscored At the Global Entrepreneurship Summit

6 August 2015
Content from a Premium Partner
African Development Bank (Abidjan)
press release

Africa Development Bank's Vice President, Solomon Asamoah, represented the Bank at the just concluded Global Entrepreneurship Summit that took place July 25th- 26th 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Now in its sixth year, the event was co-hosted by US President, Barak Obama, and his Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta. The two highlighted among others, Kenya's potential for growth, with Kenyatta describing the country as a 'hot bed' for investments.

Asamoah, who is in charge of Infrastructure, Private Sector and Regional Integration, participated in two panels at the Summit. He emphasised the Bank's strong involvement in promoting entrepreneurship in Africa.

As a moderator in a session on Intra-Regional Entrepreneurship and Trade, Asamoah highlighted trade barriers that needed to be addressed in order to drive economic growth and development. The session explored measures to be considered in removing these barriers, as well as cited experiences of countries that had successfully tackled barriers to trade.

Inspiring the Next Generation of Agricultural Entrepreneurship was another session in which Asamoah participated as a panelist. He underscored the importance of agriculture, and expressed why agriculture as a sector was lagging behind. The Vice president's contribution focused on agricultural innovations in food security and nutrition, agronomy and technology, including post-harvest losses, pest control, and connecting farmers to markets. He talked about financing the sector and creating jobs for young people. The session brought to the fore unique solutions for 'agripreneurs', and how they can be communicated and adapted to inform entrepreneurs.

President Obama stated: "Today, we can see that the future for Africa is on the horizon, but some tough choices need to be made." In light of this, Asamoah reiterated the AfDB's readiness to accompany African countries in the drive for change.

The Global Entrepreneurship Summit is an annual event that provides an opportunity to celebrate entrepreneurs from across the world. It serves as a platform for exchanging ideas on innovative startups, exploring ways of bringing these ideas to life with an objective of driving economic growth and improving human welfare.

Previous summits have been held in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Morocco and Egypt.

Read the original article on African Development Bank (AfDB).

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