Focus on African mobile phone solutions

World leaders gathered under the auspices of the World Economic Forum in Africa in Cape Town this week to debate the complex issues facing the continent as it grapples with the fall out of the global economic crisis.

Although the origins of the crisis lie far beyond Africa's shores, the continent's leaders are wasting no time in harnessing the wealth of experience and incisive insight offered by over 900 participants from over 50 countries to develop innovative and scaleable solutions placing Africa on a clear pathway towards recovery and prosperity.

The high-profile sessions showcased both public and private sector initiatives designed to generate a step change in Africa's future growth trajectory. From the public sector, Kofi Annan rallied support for further institutional reforms, which he argued are badly needed to ensure the interests of low-income countries are adequately represented on the international stage. Whilst welcoming the emergence of the G20 as the pre-eminent global grouping, replacing the G8 to reflect a shifting global balance of power and the growing stature of emerging economies, he recognised a groundswell of support urging the major industrialized countries to accept long-stalled changes in the governing structures of the IMF and the World Bank.

United

The private sector in turn united to highlight the catalyzing role of business in stimulating the levels of growth needed to put Africa firmly on the path to prosperity. Nicholas Nesbitt, CEO of KenCall, Kenya's most successful contact centre, was joined by Kenyan business leaders James Mwangi, CEO of Equity Bank and Michael Joseph, CEO of Safaricom, and moderated a discussion which focused delegates' attention on the role of mobile technologies in catalyzing socio-economic development. He celebrated the power of intelligent technology to open up a platform accessible to people across the continent to transact business, move money and build transformational socio-economic relationships.

Paying tribute to the calibre of the delegates and the quality of the discussions, Nesbitt noted “it is truly inspirational to hear world leaders paying so much attention to solving Africa's challenges. We know the burning questions - the value of WEF lies in its ability to focus the energy and experience of global leadership to distil complex issues into clear and tangible solutions to drive Africa's recovery”.

Kenya continued to take a leading role at the Forum as Prime Minister Raila Odinga announced at a press conference on Thursday 11 June the launch of an innovative business alliance aimed at reducing hunger in Africa. “Kenya is proud to lead the first business alliance working to end hunger on the African continent. The Government of Kenya fully supports this initiative and believes that the private sector is an integral part of the solution to food insecurity,” he remarked.

Nicholas Nesbitt welcomed the development and revealed plans in the coming months to initiate a cutting edge communications solution to alleviate agricultural challenges for smallholder farmers in Kenya. A long time supporter of WEF in Africa, he was first invited to speak at the prestigious Forum in 2008, following a keynote speech on entrepreneurship he delivered at Harvard Business School Africa Summit.