The programme of the 2021 edition

Structuring a large-scale project in Africa: feedback and deciphering of ecosystems
In a difficult context of a health crisis, the African continent has proven with exemplarity its resilience, not only thanks to a rare experience of epidemics management and proactive policies to curb the impact of the crisis on populations and the economy, but especially on behalf of the support of the young generation of economic leaders that the Institut Choiseul highlights since 2014.

Whether they are company directors, creative young entrepreneurs, talents of the new economy or leaders of prestigious institutions, these exceptional personalities managed to reinvent their economic and managerial models to face the storm and move forward despite the turbulences of the crisis.

The next world is at our doorstep and promises us multiple mutations. In this context and through meetings and solidarity dynamics, the Institut Choiseul will have the pleasure to receive several laureates to share their experiences and career paths. With their local roots and continental influence, these economic leaders who make Africa will focus on deciphering the ecosystems in which they operate during an exclusive exchange.

Chams-Eddine BEZZITOUNI (Algérie), Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Born to Change the Game
Chams-Eddine BEZZITOUNI (Algérie), Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Born to Change the Game
Daouda FALL (Guinea), Chief Executive Officer, Brahms Group
Aftar Touré MOROU (Togo), Managing Director, Public Markets Regulation Authority
Kabiru RABIU (Nigeria), Managing Director, BUA Group
Victor GRANDGUILLAUME (France), Partner, Gide Loyrette Nouel
Shahim ISMAEL (Madagascar), Chief Executive Officer, Inviso Group

Employee experience in Covid times: what kind of new work environment to be expected in Africa?
Today’s private and public sector challenges in Africa are fundamentally human challenges: digital transformation, regulation, innovation, skills...

Will the post-covid world be the distance working world, with a dematerialization of tasks and 100% digital world? Are African companies ready for this mutation? What are the tools to accompany this new work environment? And above all, what are the new expectations of collaborators today?

New technologies, the evolution of markets and a binding regulatory environment are the factors of transformation for both Humans and organizations. Talents, management, change management and enterprises culture are becoming the essential links to succeed in the implementation of the strategy.

Henceforth, the ability for the current organizations to adapt in an environment in profound mutation is not only a competitive advantage, but an existential necessity.

Whatever the domain of activity: the future of work is at the heart of the organizational transformation of the companies.

Marion NAVARRE (France), Director – Human Capital for French-speaking Africa, Deloitte
Bertrand BADRÉ (France), Managing Partner, Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital
Cheick-Omar DIALLO (France), Human Resources Director, Total Afrique Marketing & Services
Patricia VERINGA-GIESKES (DRC), Managing Director DRC, The Job Factory
Amsy Sophie MATHIAM (Senegal), Head of People & Organisation SSA, Novartis
David-Alexandre FOURNIER (France), Human Resources Director, Bolloré Transport & Logistics
Virginie DIAS-TAGNON (South Africa), Talent Director Africa, L'Oréal

How to ensure food sovereignty?
The constraints imposed by the sanitary crisis, particularly supply difficulties, are putting food sovereignty issues at the heart of the global economic agenda.

This is especially true for the African continent as its economy essentially relies both on traditional farming production methods and on the importation of processed products, urging us to think about new ways to reinvent sovereign and resilient agricultural systems.

With 600 million hectares of uncultivated land, the continent benefits from exceptional opportunities to develop its agricultural system in the sense of agribusiness to attain food sovereignty for a continent experiencing strong demographic expansion. To do so, they must address certain challenges: land exploitation, increase of the productivity of farms with the use of agricultural inputs, implementation of attractive ecosystems for investors that respect the diversity…

Nicolas MOUSSET (France), Chairman, Atlantic Financial Group
Ismaël BARMOU (Niger), Chief Executive Officer, Société de Transformation Alimentaire
François-Xavier D'ORNELLAS (France), Chief Executive Officer, ClassM
Vincent Pétiard, Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Committee, Atlanterra Agriculture Durable
Lahcen ENNAHLI (Morocco), Project Officer to the Chief Executive Officer, OCP Africa
Abdellahi Babe ZEYAD (Mauritania), Director of Planning, Cooperation and Monitoring and Evaluation, Ministry of Agriculture

Which financing models of infrastructures to unleash the African development?
Attracting a growing number of investors, infrastructure development is one of the conditions for Africa's growth. According to African Development Bank estimations, Africa's infrastructure needs are between $130 billion and $170 billion per year. However, the continent is struggling to meet its financing needs and traditional economic models are not keeping pace with population growth and urbanisation.

With their capacities limited by economic and budgetary constraints, national governments, which are the primary providers of these investments, are calling on sources of financing from outside the continent (foreign countries, foreign public funds, institutional investors). They must therefore rethink the deployment of these projects by resorting to innovative modes of financing, particularly involving the private sector, in order to achieve the development objectives set out in the African Union's Agenda 2063.

Amaury DE FÉLIGONDE (France), Managing Partner, Okan
Hani Salem SONBOL (Saudi Arabia), Chief Executive Officer, International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation
Mathieu PELLER (France), Chief Operating Officer Africa, Meridiam
William NKONTCHOU (Cameroon), Chairman, Africa Financial Institutions Investment Platform
Youga SOW (Senegal), Chief Executive Officer, Sococim Industries
Abderrahim ELBAH (Mauritania), Environmentalist-Economist Expert, Directorate General for Public-Private Partnerships

How to boost the ecosystem?
A strong trend in today's economic and entrepreneurial world, the "Tech for Good" reveals a strong collective awareness. In fact, economic actors are increasingly thinking about technology not only through its efficiency and economic added value, but also through the positive social and environmental impact that it can generate.

A growing market, Africa is particularly concerned by this dynamic, which is a real lever for combining growth, impact and inclusion. Today, the movement is strongly present there and mainly driven by startups putting tech at the service of other sectors, such as edtech, fintech, healthtech etc.

During a workshop entitled "How to boost the ecosystem?" experts from the firm Deloitte will co- analyze the challenges of Tech for Good in Africa through three major axes: health, education and financial inclusion, with the common thread being the revitalization of the continent's ecosystem.

Sandrine SOPPO PRISO (Cameroon), Partner, in charge of legal and fiscal activities in Cameroon for French-speaking, Deloitte
Karim KOUNDI (Tunisia), Partner, in charge of Media Telecom Technologies (TMT) advice for French-speaking Africa, Deloitte
El Mehdi GHISSASSI (France), Partner, in charge of consulting activity in Morocco for French-speaking Africa, Deloitte

Cultural Industries Which structuring for cultural industries in Africa?
The African continent has a unique cultural wealth that opens up many opportunities for the entertainment sector. Although it constitutes a considerable economic and societal lever, the cultural industries sector is still in its earliest stages on the continent. The actors at the forefront of this transformation lack the tools and information to fully seize the potential of this sector. Moreover, the markets remain too unstructured, as cultural goods are often distributed through the informal economy.

The realization of this potential will depend on the capacity of the cultural industries in African countries to produce, distribute and diffuse works that correspond to the expectations and identity of their audiences. Cultural policies are also an essential tool to ensure a fair redistribution of income throughout the value chain.

The objective of this session will be to compare the views of cultural industry players on the structuring of the ecosystem. The aim being to accompany the development of a sector that is central to the continent's growth.

Marie LORA (France), Founder & Managing Director, Restless Global
Simon MINKOWSKI (France), Chief Executive Officer, CanalOlympia
Jean-Christophe RAMOS (France), Director of Corporate Affairs, CANAL+ International
Gustave GAUQUELIN (France), Managing Director, Chargeurs Museum Solutions
Alain BIDJECK (Cameroon), Director, Movement of Creatives Africas
Toun ODETOLA FATOBA (Bénin), Impact Fund for African Creatives (IFFAC)

Access to finance for the African SMEs: fostering dedicated mechanisms to bridge the gap
Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of the African economy, accounting for over 90% of businesses and employing nearly two-thirds of workers. As a result, SMEs create the majority of new jobs on the continent and are set to play a key role in accommodating the 900 million Africans who will join the workforce by 2050.

SMEs are emerging as a core layer of the African economy. However, they generate a relatively small share of GDP, which is mainly due to difficulties in accessing funds. Self-financing and informal savings and credit associations remain their main sources of finance, but they are unreliable, unpredictable and limited, while formal institutions have difficulty granting loans to SMEs.

In the wake of Covid-19, which has severely affected the activities of SMEs, it is crucial to rethink the mechanisms for accessing business funding for these small and medium-sized companies which represent an important lever for the continent's take-off.

Zyad BALLY (France), Business Developer - Switzerland Office, Atlantic Financial Group
Arnaud FLORIS (France), Regional Manager West, Central and North Africa, Bpifrance
Idrissa DIABIRA (Senegal), Chief Executive Officer, Agency for the Development and Supervision of SMEs
Fatma REKIK (Tunisia), Chief Executive Officer, Stifen Group
Xavier MICHON (France), Deputy Executive Director, United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)
Linda ONYANGO (Kenya), Chief Executive Officer, SME Support Center Limited
Lalya KAMARA (Mauritania), Chief Executive Officer, Sahel Invest

Léonard COX (France), Vice President, Institut Choiseul
Sami AGLI (Algeria), Chairman, Algerian Confederation of Citizen Employers
Freda OBENG-AMPOFO (Ghana), Founder & Chief Mixer, Kaeme Cosmetics
John NSANA KANYONI (RDC), Group Chief Executive Officer, JK AFRICA CONSULTING
Jean-Christophe RAGNI (France), Chief Executive Officer & Export Director, Ragni
Alexandre DINGAS (France), Director, SOFIA COSMETIQUES
Cédric MESSINA (France), Chief Executive Officer, My Coach
Firas RHAIEM (France), Co-founder, RELATIC

Higher education and the continent’s needs for training: how to meet the African employability challenge?
Thinking education today means defining the strategy for tomorrow. In a continent where the median age is 19 and almost two-thirds of the population is under 25, higher education and training represent major short-term and long-term development challenges.

The continent is however confronted with the problems of employability and professional integration, which hinder the development of its private sector and cover a large number of fundamental challenges: better matching of the training and the real needs of the labour market, financing of training programs in line with the new requirements of the market, student overpopulation, retention of talent, continental cooperation, etc.

These issues lead us to confront the visions of interlocutors from different backgrounds in order to rethink the training models and meet the requirements of growth.

Kamil SENHAJI (Morocco), Vice President Emerging Markets and New Territories, Galileo Global Education
Xavier LEROY (France), Managing Partner Africa, Egon Zehnder
Thierry LACROIX (France), Director for Africa, One point
Mohammed Usman ABDUL-RAZAQ (Nigeria), Founder, Fondation Dudden Hill
Nayé Anna Bathily (Senegal), Manager of External Affairs West and Central Africa, World Bank
Nicolas JEANNÉ (France), Senior Director for Education, Dassault Systèmes

Pierre-Henri GUIGNARD (France), Special Envoy for the Alliance for the Conservation of Rainforests, French Foreign Ministry
Jean-Baptiste LEMOYNE (France), State Secretary, French Foreign Ministry
Yolande NYONDA (Gabon), Minister Delegate, Gabonese Foreign Ministry
Bérangère ABBA (France), State Secretary for Biodiversity, Ecological Transition Ministry
Lynette THORSTENSEN (New Zeland), Chairman, FairTrade International
Guillaume LESCUYER (France), Researcher, French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development
Pauline TEILLAC (France), Coordinator of the BIODEV2030 programme, Expertise France
Gérald EILU (Uganda), Associate Professor at the Department of Forestry, Biodiversity and Tourism, Makerere University, Kampala – Uganda
Djabarou IBRAHIM (Benin), Head of Unit Management Lama, National Observatory of Bovine Abnormalities
Olman SERRANO (Italy), President, International Technical Association for Tropical Timber (ATIBT)
Jean Remy MARTIN (France/Sao Tome), Foreign Trade Advisor Cocoa, Sao Tome
Benjamin-Francklin Kouame KOUAME N’DRI (Ivory Coast), Cocoa farmer, President of the ECAM cooperative, Chairman of Fairtrade Africas
Ghislain MOUSSAVOU (Gabon), Directeur général des fôrets du Gabon

Thinking new governance models for a value-creating sport industry
The booming African sports market offers many economic opportunities and also contributes to achieving Sustainable Development Goals in health, education and social cohesion. Furthermore, it is establishing itself as a diplomatic tool, a vehicle for unifying peace and inclusion.

Concrete projects emerge on the continent, notably with the hosting of international sporting events, offering local ecosystems major economic and social benefits in terms of employment, infrastructures, and regional planning. The rise of African sport business will go through a structuring of this sector which invites us to think about governance models to play sport a lever of sustainable growth and creator of value for the continent.

Emmanuel QUEREL (France), Chief Executive Officer, Africa Sport Events
Fatma SAMOURA (Senegal), Secretary General, FIFA
El Ghali BOUHASSIS (Morocco), Director of Sales Middle East and Africa, Stats Perform
Gaëtan MULLER (France), Deputy Chairman & Partner, LDLC ASVEL
Bruno SATIN (France), Chairman, BS & PARTNERS
Régis CHARPENTIER (France), Chairman, WinWin Afrique

The African space industry: development and financing strategic issues
The development of space industry is a crucial economic issue for Africa. Since 2013, the African Union prioritizes a developing policy in this sector at the continent scale and established a 50-year agenda with the year 2063 as its horizon. In just a few years, the continent has become an emerging satellite market with a high potential. 35 communication satellites have been put into orbit into space by eight African countries between 1998 and April 2019. Currently weighting 7 billion dollars, the market should attain 10 billion in 2024. A tendency dedicated to a high growth in the next years and which should allow the continent to ensure its technologic succession and to consolidate its industrial and economic stratum.

These technologic transfers are the harbingers of great opportunities of growth in the regions that are not connected in many domains. Leading the way: goods and people’s safety, food security, precision farming, telemedicine, distance education, land reclamation, land registry management, natural resources protection, infrastructures, transports and energy, e-commerce development and many other areas.

Nowadays, only private innovative ecosystems will make the development of the African Space Industry effective. During this workshop, different viewpoints will be confronted on the pertinence of these applications and the economic models behind. The issue of alternative financing by the private sector will be addressed as well as the emerging movement “new space” outlooks.

Babacar N. SECK (France), Chief Executive Officer, PetaleRock
Gregory SCHMIDT (France), Chief Executive Officer, KiwiPay Group
Jean KOÏVOGUI (France), Chief Executive Officer, TECHNATIUM
Olivier RISSE (France), Senior Vice President, Eutelsat
Désiré KARYABWITE (Switzerland), Internet Protocol Coordinator of the E-Strategy Unit, UIT
Lorraine TOURNYOL DU CLOS (France), Directrice Sécurité/Sûreté, Deloitte
Benoit CHERVALIER (France), Chairman, one2five advisory

Pascal LOROT (France), President, Institut Choiseul
Jean-Baptiste LEMOYNE (France), Jean-Baptiste LEMOYNE (France), State Secretary, French Foreign Ministry
Christian ESTROSI (France), President, Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis
Yolande NYONDA (Gabon), Minister Delegate, Gabonese Foreign Ministry

Jean-Baptiste LEMOYNE (France), Jean-Baptiste LEMOYNE (France), State Secretary, French Foreign Ministry
Christian ESTROSI (France), President, Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis