The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, released on the 8th October adds to the picture of an improving climate for business in Africa.In sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa (45), Botswana (56) and Mauritius (57) feature in the top half of the rankings, with several countries from the region measurably improving their competitiveness. Côte d’Ivoire (110), Ghana (102) and Malawi (119) join this year’s ranking for the first time.
The United States tops the rankings, followed by Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Singapore.
The survey is designed to capture a broad range of factors affecting an economy’s business climate. The report also includes comprehensive listings of the main strengths and weaknesses of countries, making it possible to identify key priorities for policy reform.
The latest World Economic Forum in Davos has added further momentum to the UK Prime Minister's Call to Action on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - the set of 8 goals to be met by 2015, adopted by world leaders in 2000 to drive action on poverty, health, education and the environment.
In his original speech last July, Gordon Brown called for a new global partnership to deal with what he sees as a development emergency: the shortfall in progress in meeting the MDGs, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The Prime Minister stressed that business has a key role to play in meeting the MDGs.
The 21 business leaders who originally signed a statement in support of this “Call to Action”, have now been joined by other stars of the business and development world, including Bono, Bill Gates and Queen Rania of Jordan. In a joint statement , they have commited to "work to make 2008 a turning point in the fight against poverty...And...to work together to help the world get back on track to meet the MDGs".
This reflects an important trend: the recognition by progressive donors (including the UK's Department for International Development), businesses and non-government organisations that business has a central role to play in meeting the MDGs. In fact, unless the private sector is put right at the heart of the approach of making poverty history, we will never make the lasting progress at the scale and speed that is needed.
In May, the British Government will host an event in London that will bring together government and business leaders to highlight a number of business initiatives that are both transformational and contribute to growth. The agenda will be picked up in September, at broader meeting at the UN of governments, businesses, civil society organisations, NGOs and faith groups to mark the halfway point to the MDGs and to accelerate action.
These events in Davos, London and New York are great news - raising the profile of the MDGs and strategies needed to meet them. But ultimately the test will come when we are able to track real progress on the ground.
The 17th African World Economic Forum kicked off on Wednesday with an opening plenary styled a “conversation” between two Presidents, an aspiring President, a Vice President and a lonely CEO.
Our hopes were raised by Tokyo Sexwale, the moderator, who assured us that this would not be another talk shop, but quickly dashed by President Mbeki who told us that there was nothing new to say about the challenge of Africa.
But this didn’t deter the energetic octogenarian President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, who described the success that had been achieved by his country without the benefits of oil, minerals and other resources. The secret of success being “good friends with lots of money”!
This contrasted with the underlying message from President Mbeki who described the capacity challenges of the continent and posed the question – who will pay? Certainly not the World Bank if Obiageli K. Ezekwesili’s speech was anything to go by. Instead of providing solutions Ms Ezekwesili posed a long series of questions. One of these was how to get the private sector to come to the party and how to get business to recognise Africa was not one country. Cynthia Carroll, the new CEO at Anglo American, was left to answer on behalf of business and showed how hard it is for a business person to compete on a stage with politicians. She stressed the need for partnerships, best practices, good governance and flexibility of approach.
Tokyo Sexwale moderated the event with great charm, energy and humour. However it was clear his thoughts were on other things when instead of referring to the African continent he referred to the African National Congress.
Outside the plenary the tone of the meeting was very much one of quiet determination. Growth of 5-6% showed that Africa was doing the right things and that the right policy choices were being made. Governance was improving and individuals such as Mo Ibrahim vigorously enforced the point that Africa must achieve the same standards as the rest of the world in this respect. There was an attempt to tackle the difficult issues with a BBC debate on Zimbabwe which failed to really penetrate how the current problems could be resolved.
The conference followed the lead of Davos with sessions on climate change, thankfully without the hysteria that accompanied this topic in Switzerland and there was a particular focus on agriculture.
All in all while this year’s Africa WEF seemed to lack the energy and excitement of previous year (I’m sure there were less people in the bars at the Arabella Sheraton), it was more than replaced by a realism and steely determination to ensure that progress on the continent continues.
Business Action for Africa is a network of businesses and business organisations working collectively to accelerate growth and poverty reduction in Africa.
