AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina wins African of the Year Award


Devdiscourse News Desk | Abidjan | Updated: 06-12-2019 18:36 IST | Created: 06-12-2019 18:36 IST
AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina wins African of the Year Award
Akinwumi Adesina dedicated his award “to the people of Africa who inspire me... I do not work alone.” Image Credit: Twitter / Akinwumi A. Adesina
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  • Ivory Coast

The President of African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina has been honored with the African of the Year Award from the All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLA™) on Thursday in recognition of his bold leadership and the innovation of the Africa Investment Forum which ‘opened up billions of dollars of investment into the continent.’ The ninth edition of the awards, organized by AABLA™ in conjunction with CNBC Africa, seeks to honour leaders who have contributed and shaped the African economy.

“It is indeed a great honour,” Akinwumi Adesina said in remarks during the exclusive gala dinner held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, at which the awards were announced.  Adesina added that he was overwhelmed to follow in the footsteps of his “big brother” President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, who won the award in 2018. “My heartbeat is to serve the people of Africa,” the African Development Bank’s Chief opined.

The Africa Investment Forum has been a trailblazer in tilting investments into the continent. The second edition of the Forum which was held in Johannesburg, South Africa ended on November 13. It was attended by over 2,000 delegates and secured investor interest worth $40.1 billion – up from $37.1 billion the previous year. The event was attended by an A-list of business leaders, government representatives including David Makhura, Premier of Guateng Province, who gave the opening address. The event also attracted some of South Africa’s leading personalities. Vibrant music was provided by The Muses, a south African all-female string quartet and ‘Dr Victor And The Rasta Rebels.’

In other categories of the 2019 awards, Nigerian Co-Founder of Kobo360, Obi Ozor won Young Business Leader of the Year; Naspers CEO: South Africa, Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa took the Business Woman of the Year award; while Nedbank, won the Company of the Year award.

Akinwumi Adesina dedicated his award “to the people of Africa who inspire me... I do not work alone.” He also said it was very rewarding to be at the helm ‘of an organisation that paves the way to progress.’

 

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