Building Sustainable Partnerships, Creating a Brighter Future for Arab and African Entrepreneurs. Within the framework of the “Global SME Coalition for Africa” led by the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa; In addition to the need to ensure the development of the private sector by establishing links, joint investments and facilitating trade between Arab and African entrepreneurs to achieve common prosperity for all, these sessions come in line with the declaration of the seventeenth special session of the African Union Conference on Industrialization and Economic Diversification; Which was held in Niger on November 25, 2022.
Within this context three panels aim to address:
- Entrepreneurship, innovation and private sector development as drivers of change for Africa
- Financing and resource mobilization towards achieving inclusive financial access linked to de-risking entrepreneurs and MSMEs
- Regional value chains and special economic zones vis-à-vis ensuring conducive ecosystems for domestic investment based on practical incubation management systems
- Sharing best practices and experiences from Africa and the Arab Region on the means of stimulating and unleashing entrepreneurship, joint investments and trade
- Deliberating on the challenges, opportunities, threats, and the road forward towards achieving the Arab - African economic integration
- Developing an action plan to facilitate the implementation of the global SMEs coalition mandate
Further to the above, and in the context of the global economic reality present today from the Ukraine conflict; to the post COVID recovery; leading to the swift digitalization efforts have led to global supply chain distributions. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and the ecosystems in the Arab Region and Africa are struggling to cope with these pressing challenges. Hence, this calls for a holistic approach to ensure that sustainability and inclusive survival and growth of these MSMEs is addressed by all stakeholders namely public, private and developmental institutions. It also requires creating stronger integration and partnerships between MSMEs and entrepreneurs in Africa and the Arab Region.
Building on the leading role played by BADEA in the economic empowerment of African entrepreneurs and the need to create linkages and synergies between the Arab Region and Sub-Saharan Africa, it is evident that these three major sessions will be jointly organized in close partnership with BADEA, the League of Arab States and the Union of Arab Chambers.