A Message From the Board
As with the rest of the world, NABA’s modus operandi had to change overnight in mid-March. The pandemic has impacted our member community to various degrees. For some, relying on travel and tourism is still very challenging times – while others have been less affected. For our African partners, the pandemic has brought detrimental economic setbacks, accelerated the use of digital tools – and the foreign direct investments into Africa have dropped by 18 percent in 2020.
For NABA it became priority number one to convey the challenges our members and partners on the continent were facing to relevant stakeholders but also the public in large: we did this in media opinion pieces, in a podcast challenging Minister of International Development Dag-Inge Ulstein, and in several meetings with the government. Our second priority has been to keep our members up to speed with updates and analysis. This was done with more than 25 digital member meetings throughout 2020 - with more than 2250 guests attending. Our annual Summit conference became the Nordic-African Business Webcast on the 8th of October, where we created more than 17 hours of content, more than 50 speakers shared their experiences, and more than 600 guests attending – one-third taking part from African countries.
NABA Digital Summit 2020
Another very popular initiative in 2021 has been our “Ambassador briefings” where Norwegian ambassadors present on the continent have updated our members on economics, politics and the pandemic situation in the specific country – with ample time for questions and answers. We organized several sector-focused meetings on energy, agribusiness – as well as topics such as local content, African economies, the African startup community, healthcare, Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), compliance, environmental and social impact reporting, to mention some. For the first time, we hosted a NABA session during the Africa Energy Forum, giving members a positive limelight at an important platform.
Our visibility in social media continues to grow, with more than 9383 followers on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter combined, an increase of 21 percent compared to the previous year. We were featured 14 times in media in 2020. We had a seat in the Minister of Development and the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) “Action Group on Business and Development” where our contribution included a special focus on scaling renewable energy in Africa. Through our membership in the European Business Council for Africa and the Mediterranean (EBCAM), we helped to push the pro-business in Africa message in Brussels. We hosted former Prime Minister Tony Blair in a meeting in the Norwegian Parliament’s All-Party Africa Group (where we serve as secretariat), where Mr. Blair addressed the topic of technology and change on the continent. We find that our parliament group is a useful way to forge links with our politicians – and look forward to recruiting new members of parliament after the general election in September.
NABA CEO Mr. Eivind Fjeldstad, Minister & ICT and Communications H.E Joe Mucheru and Norwegian Ambassador Elin B. Rognlie during the Kenya - Norway Business Forum. (Photo: Eli Bleie Munkelien, Director for East Africa, Innovation Norway).
Before the pandemic hit us all in March, we managed to get a flying start of 2020, including:
Popular business breakfast co-hosted with Innovation Norway where we also launched a NABA report on opportunities in Kenya
Our popular “Africa in 2020 – what to expect?” hosted at the Yara House draw a full house.
We were tasked to brief His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon in advance of his trips to East Africa
We assisted Innovation Norway in organizing one of the largest business missions to Africa (including 25 member companies) in Nairobi in February
We were part of the official visit to Mozambique where we moderated a business programme session.
Together with Aker we co-hosted an investor roundtable with Ghana’s president Akufo-Addo when he was on official visit in Norway in February.
2021 started as we left 2020 – with uncertainty caused by Covid 19 and more virtual meetings. We are hopeful that we will be able to see more of our community (also in 3D!) this fall – not least for our Nordic-African Business Summit on the 30th of September, which will also – for the first time – be held physically in Lagos, Harare and Nairobi, as well as in Oslo.
Our first business mission is being prepared – and we are looking forward to inviting all members to join our trip to Nigeria and Ghana, 22nd – 26th of November, in partnership with Innovation Norway and Norwep.
We would also encourage you to check out our new podcast series “To The Point” where our host and editor Lanre Akinola provides no-nonsense views and analysis about key news stories driving the business agenda in Africa. You can access this through Itunes or Spotify. In a Norwegian media landscape where African affairs relatively seldom appear, this is NABA’s most recent approach to provide more knowledge to the public at large – helping to balance a still very unbalanced image of the African countries.
Our new podcast series “To The Point”
The NABA Board would like to thank all members being part of this great community – your support is more important than ever. Last, but not least: thank you to the secretariat and team of volunteers for your strong commitment and consistent hard work.
Oslo, 22nd of June 2021
Øystein Botillen (Chairperson)
Elisabeth W. Lokshall
Ola Nafstad
Hanna Caroline Wirschke
Erling J. Ølstad
Tori N. Tveit
Lars Tormodsgard
Ingrid Kvammen Ekker
Svein Wilhelmsen