U.S. Rep. Gregory W. Meeks and the Congressional Black Caucus Africa Task Force will host “A Dialogue with African CEOs” in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 6, the last day of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit that has brought more than 45 African heads of state and a host of the continent’s business leaders to the U.S. capital.
The Meeks-CBC event features remarks by Tony O. Elumelu, billionaire chairman of Heirs Holdings Ltd. and founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (Lagos, Nigeria); and Mostafa Terrab, chairman and CEO of OCP Group, Morocco’s state-owned phosphate mining company.
“America’s generosity will always be welcome, but today we in Africa are most interested in your capital, ideas and innovations,” Elumelu said in an article published in The Wall Street Journal on the eve of the Leaders Summit.
Elumelu coined the term “Africapitalism,” which he describes as “an economic philosophy that embodies the private sector’s commitment to the economic transformation of Africa through investments that generate both economic prosperity and social wealth.”
Rep. Meeks is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services Committees and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, co-chairs the CBC Africa Task Force. “It is my hope that this Summit, and those following, will lead to constructive and useful exchanges that advance the mutual interests of our respective nations,” he told African trade ministers at the 13th African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum’s Ministerial session, held at the World Bank and coinciding with Day One of the Leaders Summit.
The goal of the Dialogue is to drive home to Americans, and African-Americans in particular, the numerous and lucrative business and investment opportunities that Africa offers.
“Buoyed by rising private investment, GDP growth in Africa will continue to rise to 5.3 percent in 2014 and 5.5 percent in 2015,” the task force says. “Although the region is increasingly a magnet for investments, the United States has yet to tap into the economic opportunities contained within this increasingly strategic continent.”
That message will be reinforced by top brass from U.S. international agencies, including Fred Hochberg, president of the U.S. Export-Import Bank; Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corp.; Dana Hyde, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation; Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development; Shari Berenbach, CEO, U.S. Africa Development Foundation; and Leocadia Zak, director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.
Nigerian Power Minister Chinedu O. Nebo, and Désiré Guedon, ministry of energy and hydraulic resources in Gabon, will also address what is expected to be a standing-room-only audience.
Wednesday’s “Dialogue” follows the Aug. 5 U.S.-Africa Business Forum, hosted by U.S. Department of Commerce and Bloomberg Philanthropies and focused on U.S. private sector engagement in Africa in the areas of finance and capital investment; infrastructure; power and energy; agriculture; consumer goods; and information and communication technology.
The Dialogue also comes just over a month after Meeks and the CBC task force hosted a conference in New York, Meeks’s home state, on “Seizing the Opportunities: Engaging Wall Street on Power Africa,” which brought together investors, lenders, developers, and project sponsors to discuss projects and opportunities around President Obama’s Power Africa initiative to improve access to electricity on the continent.
Announced on June 30, 2013, the initiative entails $7 billion in U.S. financial support and guarantees over the next five years, coupled with more than $9 billion in initial commitments from private sector partners.
