Africa investor (Ai), a leading international investment and communications group, today announced the shortlist for its prestigious international Ai Investment and Business Leader Awards, established in 2005, to shed light on Africa’s many investment and business leader success stories. Winners will be honoured on the eve of the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York.These prestigious Ai Awards are the longest standing international investment awards that reward exceptional business practices, economic achievements and investments across Africa, and recognise the institutions and individuals improving the continent’s investment climate.
The Ai Investment and Business Leader Awards will take place on the 24th of September 2015, during the Ai CEO Investment Summit in New York, USA, at the Thomson Reuters offices on 195 Broadway.
Commenting on the Awards, Hubert Danso, CEO and Vice Chairman of Africa investor, said; “We’d like to congratulate the nominees as the top ten leaders in their fields. It is through theefforts of these companies and business leaders that Africa is consistently being recognised as a more viable investment destination. The highly sought-after Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governor of the Year categories acknowledge the importance these leaders place on creating a conducive business environment to foster investment growth and job creation. We are delighted with the increased global interest and recognition these Africa investor Awards bring to position Africa as a competitive international investment destination, and we commend all those that participate in these important awards.”
Last year’s winners included Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Minister of Finance of Nigeria; Michael T. Mack, CEO of Syngenta; Monica Musonda, CEO and Founder of Java Foods; Dr Ahmed Heikal, CEO and Founder, Qalaa Holdings; Bob Diamond, Co-founder of Atlas Mara; Alex Okosi, Senior Vice-President and Managing Director, Viacom International Media Networks Africa; Dr Michael Gondwe, Governor of the Bank of Zambia; the Nigerian Stock Exchange; ACP Business Climate Facility; Standard Bank; GE; Frigoken; Blackstone and Black Rhino; Microsoft; the
Kenyan Investment Authority (KenInvest), and the Carlyle Group.
The full 2015 Ai Investment and Business Leader Awards shortlist is below.
The Africa investor Investment and Business Leader Awards will be presented on the 24th of
September 2015 at the Thomson Reuters offices, 195 Broadway, New York, during the Ai CEO
Investment Summit.
Ai Investment and Business Leader Awards 2015 - Full shortlist
1. Best Initiative in Support of SMEs and the Millennium Development Goals
1 National Empowerment Fund
2 PTA Bank
3 Rwanda Development Bank
4 Atlas Mara
5 First Bank Nigeria
6 Equity Bank
7 African Venture Capital Association
8 MasterCard Foundation
9 AfricInvest
10 Heirs Holdings
2. Investment Climate Initiative of the Year
1 The Investment Climate Facility for Africa
2 ACP Business Climate Facility
3 NEPAD/Dakar Financing Summit
4 Islamic Development Bank
5 MIGA
6 The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA)
7 African Development Bank Group
8 Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)
9 DFID
10 Initiative for Global Development (IGD)
3. Bank of the Year
1 Standard Bank
2 Ecobank
3 UBA
4 Zenith Bank
5 Equity Bank
6 Standard Chartered Bank
7 Barclays Africa
8 GTBank
9 First Bank Nigeria
10 Citi
4. Ai Green Investment Initiative of the Year
1 Enel Green Power
2 OPIC
3 GE Africa
4 African Risk Capacity
5 USAID
6 SIDA
7 ARM Cement
8 Oando
9 Dangote Cement
10 Africa Finance Corporation
5. Venture Capital/Private Equity Deal of the Year
1 The Abraaj Group
2 Actis
3 Ethos Private Equity
4 Emerging Capital Partners (ECP)
5 Carlyle Group
6 Blackstone
7 Pembani Remgro
8 Helios
9 Phatisa
10 Leapfrog Investments
6. Employer and Human Capital Investor of the Year
1 Google
2 Coca-Cola
3 Siemens
4 Citi Group
5 Unilever
6 MTN Group
7 DHL Express
8 East African Breweries
9 Mota-Engil
10 PTA Bank
7. Institutional Investor of the Year
1 Franklin Templeton
2 Oppenheimer
3 Public Investment Corporation of South Africa (PIC)
4 African Development Bank (AfDB)
5 United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund
6 Goldman Sachs
7 Investec
8 Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)
9 Satya-TPG
10 Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
8. Investment Promotion Agency of the Year
1 Centro de Promoacao de Investimentos, Mozambique
2 Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest)
3 Rwanda Investment Promotion Agency (RIPA)
4 Centre de Promotion des Investissements en Côte d'Ivoire (CEPICI)
5 Ghana Investment Promotion Centre
6 Tanzania Investment Centre
7 Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC)
8 Zambia Development Agency
9 Agência Nacional de Investimento Privado (ANIP), Angola
10 Uganda Investment Authority
9. Leadership in Sustainable Investment in Africa
1 Valeant Pharmaceuticals
2 Endeavour
3 MTN Group
4 Econet
5 DHL
6 DuPont
7 Siemens
8 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
9 Philips
10 Old Mutual
10. Africa's Innovation Leader of the Year
1 Jamila Abass, CEO, Mfarm
2 Adrian Gore, CEO, Discovery
3 Funke Opeke, CEO, MainOne Cable
4 Richard W. P. Brasher, CEO, Pick n Pay
5 Dr Andrew Kuper, CEO, Leapfrog Investments
6 Bob van Dijk, CEO, Naspers
7 Sim Shagaya, Founder and CEO, Konga
8 Ed Winter, CEO, FastJet
9 Jay Ireland, CEO, GE Africa
10 Brandon Doyle, CEO, Convergence Partners
11. Africa's Leading Woman in Business
1 Farai Gundan, Co-founder, FaraiMedia.com
2 Mimi Alemayehou, Executive Advisor and Chair, Blackstone Africa Infrastructure
3 Clare Akamanzi, Chief Operating Officer, Rwanda Development Board (RDB)
4 Hadeel Ibrahim, Founding Executive Director, Mo Ibrahim Foundation
5 Diane Radley, CEO, Old Mutual Investment Group
6 Maria Ramos, CEO, Absa Bank
7 Sola David-Borha, CEO, Stanbic IBTC Bank
8 Funke Opeke, CEO, MainOne Cable
9 Sabine Dall'Omo, CEO, Siemens South Africa
10 Alex-Handrah Aimé, Managing Director and Head of South Africa, Emerging Capital
Partners
12. African Business Leader of the Year
1 James Mwangi, CEO, Equity Bank
2 Aliko Dangote, Founder and Owner, Dangote Group
3 Brian Joffe, CEO, Bidvest
4 Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and Chairman, Econet Wireless
5 Patrice Motsepe, Founder and Executive Chairman, African Rainbow Minerals
6 Christo Wiese, Retail investor
7 Tony Elumelu, Chairman, Heirs Holdings
8 Chris Kirubi, Chairman, Centum Investments
9 Reginald Mengi, Owner, IPP Limited
10 Sudhir Ruparelia, Chairman, Ruparelia Group
13. International Business Leader of the Year
1 Ginny Rometti, CEO, IBM
2 Gilberto Rodrigues, CEO, Mota-Engil
3 Alberto Cortina, Co-Owner, Alcor Holding
4 Doug McMillon, CEO, Walmart
5 Jong-Kyun Shin, CEO, Samsung
6 Andrew Witty, CEO, GSK
7 Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever
8 Peter Sands, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank
9 Joe Kaeser, CEO, Siemens
10 Frans van Houten, CEO, Philips
14. Up and Coming Future Leader of the Year
1 James Mworia, MD and CEO, Centum Investment Company
2 Dr James Gatera, MD and CEO, Bank of Kigali
3 Tunde Kehinde, Co-Founder and Co-Managing Director, ACE
4 Ashish Thakkar, CEO, Mara Group
5 Kennedy Bungane, CEO, Pembani
6 Piet Mouton, CEO, PSG Group
7 Marcel von Aulock, CEO, Tsogo Sun Holdings
8 Bob van Dijk, CEO, Naspers
9 Patrick E. Ngowi, Founder/Chairman, Helvetic Group of Companies
10 Ladi Delano, Founder/CEO, Bakrie Delano Africa
15. Finance Minister of the Year
1 Nhlanhla Nene, Minister of Finance, South Africa
2 Mohammed Boussaid, Minister of Economy and Finance, Morocco
3 Mohammed Djellab, Minister of Finance, Algeria
4 Armando Manuel, Minister of Finance, Angola
5 Patrick Chinamasa, Minister of Finance, Zimbabwe
6 Alexander Chikwanda, Minister of Finance, Zambia
7 Saada Salum, Minister of Finance, Tanzania
8 Claver Gatete, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Rwanda
9 Seth Terkper, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Ghana
10 Amara Konneh, Minister of Finance, Liberia
16. Central Bank Governor of the Year
1 Lesetja Kganyago, Governor, South African Reserve Bank
2 Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, Governor, Bank of Uganda
3 Benno Ndulu, Governor, Bank of Tanzania
4 Linah Mohohlo, Governor, Bank of Botswana
5 Momodu Lamin Kargbo, Governor, Bank of Sierra Leone
6 John Rwangombwa, Governor, National Bank of Rwanda
7 Godwin Emefiele, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria
8 Ipumbu Shiimi, Governor, Bank of Namibia
9 Hisham Ramez Abdel Hafez, Governor, Central Bank of Egypt
10 Lucas Abaga Nchama, Governor, Bank of Central African States
For more information on the Africa investor (Ai) CEO Investment Summit and Investment & Business Leader Awards, contact Catherine Wright on +27 11 783 2431 or cwright@africainvestor.com.
About Africa investor - www.africainvestor.com Africa investor is a specialist investment and communications firm advising governments, international organisations and businesses on strategies for capital market and foreign direct investments in Africa. Africa investor publishes Africa investor, the leading international newsstand magazine for Africa’s investment decision makers; maintains the Africa investor 40 Investors’ Index, hosts the Ai Index Series Summit & Awards and the Africa investor Infrastructure Projects Summit & Awards, among other events.
