“Africa Rising: Visionary Leaders Share Insights in New York”

A distinguished line-up of high-profile personalities have been billed to speak at the Global Africa Forum 2024, which takes place in New York on Wednesday, 25 September. Speakers include H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana and H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, both of whom spoke at the maiden Global Africa Forum in 2023.

Curated under the theme: “Mobilizing Global African Investments for Africa’s Infrastructural Needs”, the 2nd edition of the Global African Forum aligns with the theme for the 2025 Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD 2025), which will focus on funding for strategic infrastructural projects that will facilitate the free movement of people, goods and services across Africa’s single market of 55-member states.

Also billed to speak at this high level New York forum are Dr Adesina Akinwumi, President, Africa Development Bank; Mrs Ahunna Eziakonwa, head of UNDP Africa; H.E. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister; H.E. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and top contender for the position of Secretary General, the Commonwealth; Wale Tinubu, President, Oando Plc, and Hollywood actor and Pan-Africanist, Mr Boris Kodjoe.
Other speakers, who have also confirmed their participation, include, H.E. Hilda Suka-Mafudze, African Union Ambassador to the United States of America; Tom Sheehy, United States Institute for Peace; Danae Pauli, Partnerships for Global Infrastructure and Investment, US State Department; Dr Olivier Kamanzi, President, Africa Global Chamber of Commerce; British Robinson, Coordinator, Prosper Africa; Oliver Alawuba, Group MD, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc.; Mrs Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, Vice President, AfDB; Thierno Habib Hann, CEO, Shelter Afrique, and Kwabena Nyarko, CEO, Hospital Infrastructure Group.
The Global Africa Forum, which is supported by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and the Africa Business Council, both of the AU, and organised by the Africa Prosperity Network (APN), in collaboration with the Africa-America Institute (AAI), is an oversubscribed event on the side-lines of the 79th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in
New York City, USA. It takes place in the conference hall of Dentons, the world’s largest global law firm.

The Forum connects the skills, technology, and financial investments of Global Africans to the development of key sectors, such as energy, health, education, housing, transportation, and digital infrastructure, on the African continent.
Global Africa Forum 2024 aims broadly to encourage global investors to capitalise on
Africa’s single market of 1.4 billion people as well as to encourage public-private partnerships for the infrastructure projects needed to connect and integrate African markets, currently valued over US$3.4 trillion.
The Global Africa Forum will also seek to unpack US-Africa economic policies that have the potential for creating funding opportunities for large-scale infrastructure projects.
Stéphanie Diatta, Head of Partnership, Sponsorship & International Relations at Africa Prosperity Network explains: “the Global Africa Forum is a strategic platform to connect people of African descent across the globe to Africa’s development and the huge economic opportunities available in
Africa’s fast-integrating market of 1.4 billion consumers.”
She adds, “Hosting it in New York annually as a side event of the United Nations General Assembly is convenient for mobilising interest and networking.”