Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko
Ahead of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD) and the Africa Prosperity Champions Awards (APCA) 2025, the Africa Prosperity Network (APN) held its annual Partners’ Cocktail engagement at the offices of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) secretariat, Trade House, in Accra as a prelude to the Dialogues and to secure the support of all partners.
The highly anticipated Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD 2025), which will take place in Accra, Ghana, from Thursday, 30 January, to Saturday, February 1, 2025, will focus on finding tangible solutions to the continent’s infrastructure deficit.
Over 1,000 business leaders, captains of industry, entrepreneurs, and heads of government on the African continent are expected to participate in the third 3rd edition of the Dialogues organized by APN, under the theme “Delivering Africa’s Single Market through Infrastructure: Invest Connect.”.
Speaking at the ceremony, Founder and Executive Chairman of Africa Prosperity Network (APN), Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, said that to achieve the prosperity of the African continent, measures must be taken to guarantee the free movement of goods and services across its over 50 borders.
Mr. Otchere-Darko observed that to bridge the continent’s existing infrastructure gap, the private sector must be engaged across the continent to drive the efforts aimed at building the requisite roads, railway lines, and air transport services, among others, in order to promote the continent’s quest to achieve a single market.
“We need to aggregate our worth, our work, the riches of our continent, the richness of our minds, and our potential. We need to find a way to somehow ignite what we have, working together — the politicians, business leaders, thought leaders – and all of us towards that singular goal of achieving the world’s largest single market,” Gabby Otchere-Darko said.
In a speech read on his behalf, Wamkele Mene, Secretary General of AfCFTA, said that “projections show that a fully implemented AfCFTA could create a market with combined consumer and business spending of $6.7 trillion by 2030 and $16.12 trillion by 2050” in Africa.”
He said that the theme of APD 2025 “is particularly relevant” because “infrastructure underpins AfCFTA’s success by reducing the cost of trade and enabling the seamless movement of goods, services, and people.
“Without investments in transport corridors, energy systems, and digital networks, the full potential of the AfCFTA cannot be realised. To bridge this gap, we call on all stakeholders to invest in Africa’s future. The private sector, in particular, has a critical role to play in unlocking infrastructure development through public-private partnerships (PPPs)” he said.
Ghana’s Minister for Energy, Herbert Krapa, observed in his remarks that some of the most critical infrastructure projects on the African continent are in the energy sector and Africa’s industrialization and single market will be powered by energy hence the continent’s energy infrastructure must therefore be at the forefront of deliberations at APD 2025.
Mr. Krapa also suggested that the APD 2025 ought to propose ways to harness Africa’s sustainable energy sector potential, develop solar and hydropower capacity, enhance cross-border energy collaboration, public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the energy sector, tariff harmonization among others.
Charles Abani, United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in Ghana, said the UN is committed to supporting APN for its upcoming APD 2025, having observed some key issues that have recently captured the UN’s attention and believes that they should also be given attention at APD 2025.
They are sustainability financing, improving digitalization infrastructure, improving food systems, creating jobs and managing social protection, and addressing the need to trade among African countries.
Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations and Minister for foreign Affairs and Regional Integration said the upcoming Africa Prosperity Dialogues represent a crucial step forward in addressing the continent’s infrastructure and cross-border challenges.”
Nana Adwoa Hackman, Executive Director of Events at the Africa Prosperity Network who highlighted the significance of the Africa Prosperity Champions Awards (APCA) said the awards were established to honour and celebrate the outstanding achievements of distinguished Africans across various sectors and global Africa.
Africa Prosperity Network
The Africa Prosperity Network (APN) is a not-for-profit organisation committed to the creation of prosperity for Africans and global Africans. APN’s Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD) provide a trusted convening platform of best practices for knowledge sharing and results-oriented solutions to the challenges facing the African continent. As a continental platform, APN is the fuel that powers both the advocacy and implementation of these results-oriented solutions through strategic partnerships to deliver actionable policies that engender bankable projects.
