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The Africa Private Sector Summit (APSS) has inaugurated new Governance Boards

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3 years ago

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Kingsley K. Asah

They were selected in an open, competitive process from Africa’s five regions – Central Africa, East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa, plus the Diaspora (5+1)

ACCRA, Ghana, February 19, 2024/APO Group/ — 

Mr. Kingsley K. Asah, the APSS Board Secretary announced that the newly reconstituted Advisory Board and Board of Directors (Executive Board) of the Africa Private Sector Summit (APSS) LBG (https://AfricaPrivateSectorSummit.org/) were inaugurated on February 12, 2024 in a joint virtual induction and inauguration meeting of both boards. The APSS is a pan-African, private sector-led non-profit organization established to promote intra-African trade and investment and an enabling business environment for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). APSS is headquartered in Accra, Ghana. https://AfricaPrivateSectorSummit.org/. The board members of the APSS are eminent businessmen, women, and commercial professionals from across the continent. They were selected in an open, competitive process from Africa’s five regions – Central Africa, East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa, plus the Diaspora (5+1) in alignment with the continent’s regions as formally recognized by the African Union.

Professor Kingsley Moghalu, Chairman of both the Advisory Board and the Executive Board and a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, addressed the new Boards, saying, “This is a new dawn for the Africa Private Sector Summit. Effective corporate governance will define our brand and drive our work as we engage with African governments, the continent’s private sector, and other partners to enable the private sector’s driving role in the implementation of the AfCFTA by ensuring that obstacles to doing business on the continent are removed”. https://apo-opa.co/3SN5EpA 

The APSS has launched a continent-wide advocacy campaign, which will  be supported by high-level and inclusive stakeholder convenings across the continent in 2024, to obtain the adoption of a Charter on the Private Sector Bill of Rights for an Enabling Business Environment (Private Sector Bill of Rights, PSBoR) by the African Union Heads of State and Government at the AU Summit in February 2025. The PSBoR contains 24 specific proposed rights that, if adopted by African leaders and domesticated in national laws and policy, will be a game-changer for trade and investment in the continent and ensure the success of the AfCFTA treaty in practice.

Effective corporate governance will define our brand and drive our work as we engage with African governments, the continent’s private sector, and other partners

The PSBoR rights include security and stable environments for businesses, effective governance, infrastructure to ease the movement of goods, services, and people, education systems that provide young Africans with the skills needed by businesses for competitive productivity, efficient legal systems, and efficient clearing of cargo at ports and other processes of international trade. Other rights  include free movement of persons in the continent, the right to efficient tax rules that avoid multiple taxation, the right to equal opportunity for market competition, the right to consultation of the private sector on policy, laws, and regulations that affect them, and the right to do business without engaging in bribery and corruption. https://apo-opa.co/3SK0MS7

The APSS Board induction and inauguration included a brief recap by J. Wendell Addy,  founding Chair of the APSS and now a member of the Advisory Board, of the organization’s founding in 2021 and the process that led to the formulation of the Private Sector Bill of Rights with funding support was provided by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). Dr. Lucy Shuryel Newmann, CEO of APSS, presented the APSS Strategy Plan for 2024-2026, which was adopted by the boards, while the boards also received a presentation of a Corporate Governance Overview by a consulting firm.  The combined Advisory Board and Executive Board meeting adopted the APSS Constitution and the APSS Board Charter, which spell out the distinct but connected roles of the Advisory and Executive Boards as well as EXCO. In a corporate governance innovation, both boards are chaired by the same individual to ensure interconnectivity and effectiveness in their functioning,  supported by the same board secretary.

Composition of the new APPS Advisory Board: Prof. Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu (African Diaspora) is the Chairman and the following individuals are  members by regional representation: Mr. Judson Wendell Addy (African Diaspora), Mr. Benjamin Acheampong (African Diaspora). Kingsley Kweku Nkansah Asah – Board Secretary (West Africa), Mr. Adeyemi Adeyinka (African Diaspora), Dr. Eng. Sherif El-Gabaly (North Africa), Dr. Eugenia Xoliswa Kula (Southern Africa), Mr. Otsile Mphela (Southern  Africa), Assoc. Professor Nakijoba Rosemary (East Africa), Mrs. Pheona Nabaasa Wall (East Africa), Mr. Otunba Bimbo Ashiru (West Africa), Mr. Guevera Yao (African Diaspora), Mr. Adama Gaye (West Africa),  Dr. M’Zee Fula-Ngenge (Central Africa), Mr. Gerald F.B.Cooper (African Diaspora).

Composition of the new APSS Executive Board: Professor Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu (African Diaspora) is the  Chairman, Mr. Kingsley Kweku Nkansah Asah (West Africa) is the  Board Secretary, Prof. Sampson Ndoga (Southern Africa), Dr. Jeannine Uwimana-Nicol (East Africa), Mrs. Lesly Priscilla Dacleu Djiengue (Central Africa), Mrs. Mary Concilia Anchang (Central Africa), Dr. Chabuka J Kawesha (Southern Africa), Mrs. Mamotake C. Matekane (Southern Africa), Professor Eunice Ngozi Egbuna (West Africa), Ms. Davisha L Johnson (African Diaspora), Mr. Denis Karera (East Africa), Mr. Jaswinder Bedi (East Africa), Ms. Akuna Cook (African Diaspora), Dr. Lucy Surhyel Newman (West Africa) is the  CEO.

Composition of the APSS EXCO: Dr. Lucy Surhyel Newman (West Africa) is the CEO and Chair of EXCO, Mr. Adedayo Dayo-Dunmoye (West Africa), is the Projects Director and Mr. Fortunate Kwiringira (East Africa) is the Technical Director.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Africa Private Sector Summit (APSS).

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The 27th China International Education Annual Conference held a cloud dialogue, where Yin Yuzhen and Saikaos discussed the exchange of folk ecological education

Published

14 hours ago

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November 11, 2026

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China

BEIJING, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 11 November 2026 – The 27th China Annual Conference & Expo for International Education (CACIE) hosted a “CACIE Talk” session in Beijing on October 30, where Yin Yuzhen, a Chinese anti-desertification pioneer, Bai Fan, head of the Luoyang No. 2 Foreign Language School Education Group, and their American friend Sakolsky, whose full name is Ronald Sakolsky, reconnected via video link. The brief conversation added a new footnote to a cross-border green story now spanning 26 years.
 




 
In the video link, Sakolsky said he had launched preparations on October 1 to establish the Sakolsky Foundation. He plans to work with the China Education Association for International Exchange to build a platform for exchanges between Chinese and American teachers and students, using people-to-people exchanges to bridge cultural divides. Communication and understanding, he said, are important bridges to a peaceful future for young people in the global village we all share. Bai Fan also noted that face-to-face cross-border educational exchanges can help young people learn tolerance and respect, and see a real, multi-dimensional China. Yin Yuzhen responded with a simple observation that resonated with the audience: planting trees and nurturing people both come down to perseverance.

The friendship had its origins in the Maowusu Sandy Land. In 1999, Sakolsky, then teaching in Luoyang, was moved by Yin Yuzhen’s story of taking root in the desert to control desertification, and raised $5,000 himself to support her afforestation efforts. Yin invested the entire sum in the sandy land, planted some 50,000 saplings, erected a stone marker bearing her friend’s name, and kept one dollar as a memento.

The two then lost touch for more than two decades. Yin kept up her sand-control work day after day while thinking of her friend far away. In May 2026, she posted a video appeal to find him and located Sakolsky within 26 hours. In August that year, the two met in person in Ordos and walked together into the forest that now stands there.

For more than four decades, Yin Yuzhen and her husband have remained committed to the Maowusu, bringing a total of 70,000 mu (about 4,667 hectares) of barren sand under control. The shifting dunes that once rolled with yellow dust have gradually become woodland and pasture. Today, 85 percent of the Maowusu Sandy Land in Uxin Banner has been treated, and the transformation of this sandy expanse is regarded as a model case in reversing land degradation worldwide. Over the years, the area has continued to attract volunteers from many countries to take part in desertification control, and people-to-people cooperation on environmental protection has continued to grow.

The goodwill that began with sand control has long gone beyond a single stretch of sandy land. On October 15 this year, Yin Yuzhen was named one of the inaugural “100 Women Heroes in Agrifood Systems and Rural Development” at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome. There she joined Sakolsky and FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu in planting a crape myrtle as a symbol of friendship, sharing China’s experience in desertification control on the international stage. Windblown sand respects no borders, and a shared commitment to ecological conservation has carried the story of two ordinary people out of the desert and onto the international multilateral platform.

The thread of people-to-people friendship clearly runs from the saplings in the Maowusu to the crape myrtle as a mark of friendship in Rome, and now to the conversation in Beijing about exchanges among young people. Sakolsky’s plan to establish the foundation is meant to carry forward the goodwill that began in the desert: starting from an ecological commitment, using educational exchange as a bond, and helping more young people build connections and pass on the power of goodness and beauty.
 




 

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Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group–World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) Investment Excellence Awards 2026 Announce Winners

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15 hours ago

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November 11, 2026

By

Islamic Development Bank

Beyond recognizing excellence, the Awards foster peer learning and the exchange of best practices among IsDB Member Countries, helping transform investment opportunities into sustainable, impactful, and investment-ready projects

GENEVA, Switzerland, November 11, 2026/APO Group/ –The IsDB Group–WAIPA Investment Excellence Awards 2026 (https://www.IsDB.org) concluded today during the 30th World Investment Conference (WIC 2026) in Geneva, Switzerland, recognizing outstanding Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) for their contributions to sustainable investment, investment facilitation, and economic development across IsDB Member Countries.

 




  

The General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), Egypt, received the IsDB Group- WAIPA Investment Excellence Awards 2026 for Outstanding Sustainable Investment Project for the Kom Ombo Solar PV Power Project, a landmark initiative that has delivered measurable economic, social, and environmental impact while advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Invest Oman received the IsDB Group-WAIPA Investment Excellence Awards 2026 for Investment-Ready Projects, Partnerships & Facilitation Excellence in recognition of its success in developing investment-ready opportunities through effective partnerships, stakeholder coordination, and investor facilitation.

The National Investment Promotion Agency of Comoros received a Special Recognition Award for Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The agency was recognized for supporting investors at every stage, from preparing projects to aftercare.

The Awards are a joint initiative of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group and World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA), established to recognize Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) from IsDB Member Countries that are driving sustainable development, private sector growth, economic diversification, and long-term prosperity through investment.

A total of 15 applications were submitted for the 2026 edition. Following an eligibility screening process, all eligible submissions were reviewed and assessed by an independent international jury, which selected the winners based on the published evaluation criteria.

The awards were presented by Mr. Ismail Ersahin, Chief Executive Officer of WAIPA; Mr. Sahal Almarwai, Division Manager of Outreach & Events Management at the IsDB Group Business Forum (THIQAH); and Mr. Kadir Basboga, Associate Manager, Regional Integration, Cooperation & Capacity Development at IsDB. The ceremony brought together IPAs leaders, senior government officials, investors, and private sector representatives attending the World Investment Conference (WIC) 2026.

Launched during the IsDB Group Annual Meetings 2026 in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Awards reflect the evolving role of IPAs in supporting investors throughout the investment lifecycle, strengthening investment ecosystems, coordinating stakeholders, and developing bankable investment opportunities. Beyond recognizing excellence, the Awards foster peer learning and the exchange of best practices among IsDB Member Countries, helping transform investment opportunities into sustainable, impactful, and investment-ready projects.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB Group).

 

 




 

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Lord Nicholas Stern to headline Africa’s Green Economy Summit as continent looks towards 32nd Conference of the Parties (COP32)

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15 hours ago

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November 11, 2026

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COP32

AGES 2027 brings global and African leaders together in Cape Town to focus on financing and delivering Africa’s sustainable future

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, November 11, 2026/APO Group/ –Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, one of the world’s leading authorities on the economics of climate change, will deliver a keynote address at Africa’s Green Economy Summit (https://apo-opa.co/4iRv4j7) (AGES), taking place from 23 to 26 February 2027 at the Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town. His participation comes as Africa looks towards COP32, which Ethiopia will host in 2027.

 




  

Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, will address delegates during the opening keynote session: “Ready for the World: Financing and Delivering Africa’s Sustainable Future.”

A foundational figure in shaping the economic case for global climate action, Professor Lord Nicholas Stern led the landmark Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, which demonstrated the profound economic risks of inaction on climate change and made the case for investment in a transition to a low-carbon economy.

His participation comes as Africa enters an important period for climate action. With COP32 placing the global spotlight on the continent, the focus is increasingly shifting from ambition and commitments towards implementation: mobilising capital, building investable projects, strengthening resilience and ensuring the green transition supports economic growth, industrialisation and jobs.

“COP32 is an opportunity for Africa to change the narrative from a continent seeking climate finance to a continent offering some of the world’s most compelling green investment opportunities. AGES 2027 is about making that opportunity tangible by connecting capital with projects, policy with implementation, and ambition with delivery,” says Emmanuelle Nicholls, Group Director: Green Economy at VUKA Group.

That transition from ambition to delivery sits at the heart of the newly released AGES 2027 programme, with “Road to COP32: Africa’s Implementation Agenda” running as a cross-cutting theme throughout the summit. The opening programme also features a dedicated discussion on Africa’s adaptation and resilience agenda on the road to COP32.

New voices shaping Africa’s green economy

AGES 2027 is about making that opportunity tangible by connecting capital with projects, policy with implementation, and ambition with delivery

Professor Lord Nicholas Stern will be joined by a growing line-up of African and international leaders spanning green growth, climate finance, development finance, trade and investment.

Confirmed speakers include:

  • Mallé Fofana, Deputy Executive Director and Head of the Directorate for Green Growth Implementation at the Global Green Growth Institute
  • Satu Kahkonen, World Bank Division Director for South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini
  • Haile Mekonnen, COP32 Climate Finance Representative for the Ethiopian Private Sector and member of UNECA’s COP32 Climate Finance Technical Team
  • Aakif Merchant, Director and Head of Africa at Convergence
  • Dave Chalila, Head of Africa and Middle East Investments at GuarantCo (PIDG)
  • Roslyn Ng’eno, Senior Investment Expert at the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat

 

The programme will examine some of the most immediate opportunities and challenges shaping Africa’s sustainable development, including energy access and green industrialisation, water security, sustainable agriculture, climate and nature finance, critical minerals, sustainable mobility, carbon finance, digital infrastructure and the mobilisation of institutional capital.

From climate ambition to capital

The COP32 conversation at AGES will be grounded in investment and delivery.

AGES 2027 is expected to bring together 700+ delegates, 150+ investors and 40 investment-ready projects representing a US$2 billion pipeline, creating a marketplace connecting African opportunities with the capital, partners and expertise required to take them forward.

New additions for 2027 include a Ministerial & Technical Leadership Roundtable, a closed-door DFI Roundtable and the Green Village, alongside investor roundtables, curated matchmaking and project pitches.

The City of Cape Town returns as host city for AGES 2027.

The full AGES 2027 programme is now available, together with the summit’s new infrastructure and SMME Dealbooks highlighting investment-ready African projects seeking capital and partnerships.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of VUKA Group.

 




 

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