Addis Ababa — Mr. Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa has for the second year in a row, been honored as one of "Africa's most influential", in the annual end-year list issued by the pan African magazine, The New African.
Listed under the business and economy category alongside other trail blazers on Africa's economic landscape, Mr Lopes is described by The New African as "the transformer" and a strategic thinker, who is reshaping the development debate.
"I am honored to be on the list, especially as the recognition is also extended to Nigeria's Finance Minister, Ngozi-Ikonjo-Iweala current chair of the Joint ECA-African Union Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Development, as well as Madame Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union and Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank," said Mr. Lopes.
"For all the news of economic growth and soaring GDPs, what keeps Carlos Lopes up at night is not so much Africa rising as Africa Transforming," states The New African.
The citation underlines his call for reforms "that will allow the continent to stem illicit financial flows and mobilize domestic resources for structural transformation."
Others on the list include Ethiopia's Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu (manufacturing trendsetter); Nigeria's Tony Elumelu (the Africapitalist); Morocco's Mohammed El Kettani, (banking sector) and Nigeria's Jim Ovia (founder, Zenith Bank and petrochemical plan).
