The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) will convene the 9th Biennial U.S.-Africa Business Summit at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, IL, Oct. 8-11, 2013. The Summit is the premier event for finding and building partnerships with more than 1,200 government and business leaders from the U.S. and Africa, as well as from Europe, Canada, the Middle East and Japan. Confirmed attendees include more than 15 African dignitaries and many Fortune 500 executives.
“Since 1997, CCA’s U.S.-Africa Business Summit has been regarded as an essential conference for anyone looking to do business in Africa,” says Stephen Hayes, CCA President and CEO. “This year we have a dynamic line-up of speakers and guests, including Ministers of energy, trade and industry, agriculture, ICT, planning, mining and health from at least nine different African countries. In the end, we expect representatives from more than seventy countries to attend the Summit.”
A packed three-day event, the Summit will include over 32 workshops and plenaries, a trade expo and numerous networking events. These events will highlight Africa’s most promising sectors, including agribusiness, infrastructure, energy, health, ICT, finance, capacity building and security.
Confirmed speakers, among many, include Jay Ireland, CEO of GE Africa; Amos Hochstein, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy for the U.S. Department of State; Tewolde Gebre Mariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines; Kai Wulff, Access Field Development Director (Kenya) for Google; Stanislav Vecera, Vice President of South Africa and Expansion Markets, East and West Africa, for Procter & Gamble; and Ali Moshiri, President, Africa and Latin America for Chevron Corporation.
“The campaign to host the event in Chicago was championed by Illinois Senator Durbin,” says Hayes. “The location enables CCA to connect with hundreds of Midwestern companies that are ready for new markets, and are especially strong in the fields that favor American investment.”
Summit attendees will meet potential business partners and learn more about the Obama Administration’s new Africa-centric initiatives, as well as details on the continent’s important position in the global economy. Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mozambique, and South Africa will also present country-sponsored Doing Business Forums, which will delve into the trade and investment opportunities offered by their respective countries.
“As perhaps the last emerging market on the planet, the continent is full of countries with the chance to develop the future, as no country has, through renewable energy, new ways of developing crops and through new infrastructure,” says Hayes. “For the United States, the 2013 U.S.-Africa Business Summit is the place to begin to synthesize those ideas into our own thinking and our own future.”
For more information and to register, visit www.africacncl.org.
About The Corporate Council on Africa
Established in 1993, The Corporate Council on Africa is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) membership organization of nearly 180 U.S. companies dedicated to strengthening the commercial relationship between the U.S. and Africa. CCA members represent nearly 85 percent of total U.S. private sector investments in Africa. CCA is dedicated to bringing together potential business partners and showcasing business opportunities on the continent.
