There was no public communication, no social media buzz, no media was invited, and barely any news agency reported about it. Yet, it was arguably one of the most influential gatherings of African leaders.
The highly exclusive event, dubbed as the African Renaissance Retreat, said to be organised by the wealthiest African Aliko Dangote, brought together about 50 participants.
Held on September 6-8 in the capital Kigali, the retreat brought together the wealthiest, influential and brilliant minds and leaders of the continent’s most important industrial and financial conglomerates.
Unlike many VIP events that are normally held at the Kigali Convention Centre or the other leading conference venues in town, the African Renaissance Retreat was held at the newly renovated and expanded Kigali Golf Resort and Villas.
President Paul Kagame and Kenya’s President William Ruto appear on the list of participants obtained by The New Times. However, we could not independently verify if the two heads of state indeed attended.
Meanwhile, three former heads of state, including Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, and Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania were also invited. Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn was also on the list of attendees.
The attendance
Billionaires such as Naguib Sawiris, Chairman of Egypt-based Orascom TMT Investments, Patrice Motsepe of South Africa-based African Rainbow Minerals, Tanzania’s Mohammed Dewji of METL Group, and Nigeria’s Tony Elumelu of Heirs Holdings, and Femi Otedola of Geregu Power Plc and FBN Holdings Plc, were in attendance.
Dangote also invited to the meeting Makhtar Diop, the Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation, Hassanein Hiridjee, the head of Axian group, Ivorian Tidjane Thiam, Cameroonians Vera Songwe and Kate Fotso, and the founder of Teyliom, Yérim Sow.
Mostafa Terrab of OCP Group, Moulay Hafid Elalamy of Saham Group, Akinwumi Adesina of the African Development Bank, Benedict Oramah of Afreximbank, and Jim Ovia, the founder of Zenith Bank, were the other VIP attendees.
Renowned figures in the world of finance could not miss the event. The President of Bank of America Bernie Mensah, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede of Access Holdings, Abdul Samad Rabiu of United Bank of Africa (BUA) Group, James Mwangi of Equity Group Holdings, Jeremy Awori of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, and Nku Nyembezi of Standard Bank Group, were also invited.
The agenda
President Kagame reportedly hosted a presidential dinner for the high-level attendees.
There was also a fireside chat between President Kagame and Dangote.
Key on the agenda was conversations around accelerating free movement of people, goods, and services; financing Africa’s own development; strengthening collaboration between the public and private sector; and leveraging technology to accelerate the continent’s development.
There was a panel on accelerating local production and value addition for which Dangote was part of. Dangote has been a strong advocate of Africa’s industrialisation agenda and free movement of goods.
“I normally say that Africa is like a scratch card. Unless you scratch it, you will not know what number it is,” he said at the recent Africa CEO Forum held in Kigali this year, highlighting that, going forward, he was convinced that the future is in Africa.
Dangote, who’s the Chairman of Dangote Group, a manufacturing conglomerate, emphasised then that Africans have what it takes to make Africa great, asserting that it was the reason he was putting his own money into the continent.
Dangote said at the time that he personally ignored the capital market boom of the U.S. that led to the growth of companies such as Google and Microsoft in favour of his Africa investments.
“We took all our money and invested in [Africa],” he said, stressing that in the last seven years, Dangote Group has invested more than $25 billion in fertilizers, petrochemicals, refined products, and expansion of cement production.
According to The New Times, Dangote currently operates the largest oil refinery in Africa which started production in February this year. At a cost of $20 billion, the refinery has a production capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.