Managing Director of LADOL, Dr. Amy Jadesimi and Director, Sahara Group, Pearl Uzokwe, at the launch of AFRICAN Influencers for Development with UNDP in New York, United States. |
LADOL, Dr. Amy Jadesimi and other African influencers were selected to speak alongside
the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, at the
historic launch of Africa Influencers for Development (AID) at the ongoing
United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States of America.
Africa Influencer for Development( AID) is a bold new
platform to bring Africans together in partnerships to drive the continent’s
development with the support of United Nations Development Programme.
because of her proven commitment to Africa’s progress and her firm believes
that Africa’s power and prosperity is in partnerships.
heart of its own development by harnessing Africa’s creative, intellectual and
entrepreneurial energy through a powerful coalition of current and future
African influencers in business, academia and the arts.
Put simply, the term
‘AID for Africa’ is taking on a new meaning for a new Africa.
company that has been launder for achieving many firsts, but actually this is
Increasingly an indicator of how few strong prosperous innovative indigenous
companies we have in Nigeria. I’m so excited and honoured to be included in the
groups of CEOs and African business leaders in this room, but most of us are
still white elephants. In short we should use this initiative to ensure that
companies like LADOL become the norm and not the exception.
the continent in private and public sector working together. One hallmark that
distinguishes sustainable business models is that they are grown and made
strong by being part of a sharing collaborative environment.
speakers here mentioned the need for a new type of competition in Africa- one
where companies in the same sector collaborate to maximise the percentage of
the market served by AFRICAN companies through joint market analysis,
engineering of solutions, lobbying etc as to paraphrase Mr. Mark Eddo,
(International Broadcaster & Lead
prosperous alone.”
comments I’ve heard here today and it’s a relief not to be the only African in
the room making such statements. However, I would add that we have to work hard
to change the perception of Africa not to convince the world that we are worthy
but first and most importantly convince ourselves”
done, stating that “at every hurdle we have been met with scepticism and
naysayers, sometime most vocally amongst our own people. Very often this is not
about self interest it is about a lack of self belief. On the other hand, as I
always say, working in Nigeria for 15 years has restored my faith in humanity.
private sector have risked much to do the right thing where LADOL is concerned
because they believed it was possible for a Nigerian company to outperform a
foreign one and they therefore believed that LADOL would create the jobs and
add the value we have gone on to create.
to gain and much to lose stand up time and again when given the opportunity to
make the right choice for Nigeria. Imagine what would happen if the systems
encourage and enabled correct actions across Africa. When we change our
narrative about ourselves, I know that will lead to a rapid change in the
systems that currently do not serve the continent well, which will rapidly
lead to double digit economic growth and job creation across the continent.”