HIGH IMPACT PROGRAM FORGING GLOBAL ECONOMIC POSSIBILITIES AND ADVANCING LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE

BY KETSIA FERNANDO & DELFINA STUZYNSKA

 

The Governance and Economic Development (GED) program is the largest and the most strategic gathering of African political leaders, top government officials, and business executives in Miami. This executive program was launched in 2022 by Center for International Trade Development – Miami in partnership with the University of Miami Herbert Business School and the World Strategic Forum. After two successful editions, the mission of the program couldn’t be clearer – to advance leadership excellence, promote responsible governance, accelerate economic development, increase mutual prosperity, and strengthen bilateral exchange between the United States and Africa with additional opportunities in Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America.

This program redefines the landscape of Africa’s engagement in the global marketplace. For more than a decade, the International Economic Forum of the Americas (IEFA) has organized the World Strategic Forum annually at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Miami. It has grown over the years to become a platform where investors, world leaders, industrialists, philanthropists, and financial institutions converge to discuss their strategic global development plans.

While Africa’s representation at this major event has been historically unimpressive, the GED program has changed that record. The first two editions brought high-ranking government officials, cabinet members, and legislators from nine countries which include Speaker and members of House of Representatives from Nigeria, Senators from Kenya, members of Parliament from Zanzibar, Tanzania, Consul General, Commissioners, Port Directors, and Heads of Agencies from Angola, Ghana, Namibia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.

“Thank you so much for what was an amazing program. It was the first time where I really felt that my time had been well spent and the connections made were invaluable. I do believe a lot of this success can be attributed to the work that CITD-Miami did in bringing together such a stellar delegation,” says Genevieve Leveille, Principal Founder and CEO, AgriLedger – a U.S. organization with revolutionary solution in the agri-business sector who had bilateral meetings with some of the African participants.

Building on the success of its inaugural year, the 2023 edition of the program expanded its horizons to include leaders from the private sector to foster cross-sectoral teamwork and to enrich the dialogue. Four days of intensive international collaboration, stakeholders meeting, impactful roundtable, innovative destination marketing, bilateral meetings, investors’ engagement, cocktail reception, and leadership masterclass with distinguished personalities, high-profile speakers, and world-class faculty at the University of Miami. These sessions provided fresh insights into the economics of trade, investment, and tourism while highlighting how the collaboration between Africa, South Florida, and the Caribbean can produce a transformative economic impact.

“Really glad to have come and taken the time because it takes us to really and truly another level in terms of understanding the opportunities in Africa, in terms of trade and governance. This is definitely an experience I would repeat,” says Fritz Gerald Zephir, President and CEO, JD Euroway – a Canadian corporation with several investment interests across Africa who was a key sponsor of the 2023 program.

The third edition of the program is set to take place from December 9th to 13th in Miami, Florida, and it is poised to deliver a monumental impact in forging intellectual exchange, and enhancing global outreach for public and private sector leaders across Africa – a continent so endowed with great potential but desperately in need of effective policy makers to address the socioeconomic challenges of their communities and to create shared prosperity across the region.

“We are excited about the growing number of reputable institutional partners working with us to revolutionize leadership in Africa through the program. For the 2024 edition, CITD-Miami is joining forces with JD Euroway, and the Financial & International Business Association (FIBA) – an international banking association whose membership includes the largest financial institutions in Europe, the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean, to power a stakeholders’ meeting on the margins of the World Strategic Forum,” says Kemi Arosanyin, CITD Center Director.

The stakeholders’ meeting will address “The Role of Financial Institutions in Advancing Market Integration between Africa and the Americas”. This presents a unique opportunity to develop transatlantic ecosystem for collaboration, networking, best practices, technical assistance, training, capacity building, mentorship, and information exchange between African financial institutions, and their counterparts in South Florida and the Caribbean. It also underscores the critical function that financial institutions play in driving economic growth and fostering regional cooperation.

With a great line-up of industry experts, global investors, accomplished speakers and facilitators, GED participants in the next cohort would discover the strategy to actualize their leadership aspirations in government and business, even in the face of the current uncertainties in the global environment.