By Olukayode Idowu
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, stressed the need for all to come together with a renewed spirit of collaboration, innovation, and determination, to build a prosperous and sustainable Africa for all.
Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by his Deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, said the various projections suggested that Africa would be home to over half of the world’s poorest people by 2030, and that alone underscored the urgency and importance of the summit and the work all needed to do.
“I call upon the private sector, with its scale, sustainability, and innovation, to take the lead in driving change. We must harness the strength of our multi-stakeholder partnerships and leverage enterprise-driven innovations to create impact ecosystems that foster inclusive growth and recovery.” The Governor said.
The Chief Executive Officer of Sterling One Foundation, Olajeju Ibekwe, disclosed that the second edition of the Africa Social Impact Summit was a marked improvement on the 2022 edition.
She said: “I am also humbled by the intentionality of the private sector to own the sustainable development goals and move the needle. We are grateful to the partnership of the United Nations as our co-convenor for this conference.”
Ibekwe expressed hope for several partnerships and innovations to emerge from the summit, adding that: “And we are also looking forward to existing social impact initiatives in different rural communities, accessing more resources, multilevel resources to be able to do more and spread their impact from communities to communities across the Africa.”
Earlier, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, emphasized that “You can’t do business on a dead planet. Africa’s private sector can be a catalyst for change, supercharging our trajectory towards the 2030 Agenda.”
To achieve the pace and scale of transformative change that the world needs, Schmale noted that private sector investments must not just be motivated by profit but by considerations of what would have the greatest social impact.
He urged the CEOs and investors to embed sustainability into their decision making and align their business practices with the SDGs.
The theme of the Summit held on 10 – 11 August 2023, was ‘Global Vision, Local Action: Repositioning the African Development Ecosystem For Sustainable Outcomes.’