Brief overview: Nordic-African Business Summit 2019
For the ninth consecutive year NABA, together with its co-host Norfund and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will host the Nordic African Business Summit on the 8th of October 2019.
The attendance of delegations from South Africa and Nigeria - Africa’s two largest economies - represents a unique opportunity to meet excellent speakers with different kind of expertise, attend speed meetings with experts and African ambassadors, and discuss pressing issues like access to energy and security.
Program overview
08:30 - 10:00
Assembling delegations from South Africa and Nigeria, two countries with almost half of the continent’s GDP and home to many leading corporations. The Summit will start with keynote speech from the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Ine Eriksen Søreide and Mr Eivind Fjeldstad. This opening is followed by a keynote conversation with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo from Nigeria and South African Deputy President David Mabuza. During this High Level Outlook, chaired by Mr. David Pilling from the Financial Times, the future of these Africa’s giants will be discussed, as well as how growth in these economies will affect the rest of the continent going forward.
10:30 - 11:45
In 2019, the IMF warned that growth in Africa could more than halve from an expected 3.5%. The second part of the morning program will therefore explore the implications current global political uncertainties and the IMF’s forecast for global growth for business. During this discussion chaired by Mr Lanre Akinola, editor of Nurmara, practical insights from CEOs from leading companies are to be gained on how to navigate growing uncertainties. Navigating Uncertainty will address how Africa potentially will come out of this global crisis, and what the impact of the new African Free Trade Agreement might be.
Round table sessions
13:00 - 14:00 and 14:30 - 15:30
In the afternoon the Summit allows for an exchange on different topics during several round table sessions. The focus is on topics as energy, agri-tech, finance, oil and gas, security, Nordic-Africa-China collaboration, technology and the African Development Bank. In these sessions, both speakers and participants have a chance to discuss and actively exchange views on these issues. This part of the program presents a list of high level speaker including the new Executive Director of the African Development Bank, Mr. Paal Bjørnestad.
Speed Meetings
14:30 - 16:30
Next to this content, the Summit presents a unique opportunity to network, especially during the reception at Oslo City Hall the evening prior to the Summit and the several networking breaks during the day. This Summit is program and networking opportunity is characterized by the speed meetings during the afternoon of the Summit. Here attendees have the chance to meet Ambassadors from 10 different African countries and experts that have adequate knowledge of relevant African markets for your business. Over the course of two hours both Ambassadors, experts, and attendees will meet in 250 ten-minute meetings.
16:30-17:00
This year's NABAx speaker is Mr. Strive Masiyiwa. Selected in both 2014 and 2017 for Fortune Magazine's 'World's 50 greatest leaders', We look forward to seeing you 8th of October in Oslo.