Morocco’s financial center Casablanca Finance City was awarded the Africa Economy Builders’ Grand Prize for best financial center in recognition for its performance and contribution to the development of Africa.
The award was handed over to the CEO of Casablanca Finance City, Saïd Ibrahimi, during the 6th edition of the “Africa economy Builders” organized last week in the Ivorian capital city, Abidjan, the CFC said in a press release.
This new award comes as a recognition of CFC’s positioning as a “business and financial hub in Africa and a gateway for investment in promising markets in the continent”. The distinction also recognizes the CFC approach, which falls in line with Morocco’s strategy geared towards strengthening partnership with other African states in the five sub-regions of the continent and promoting south-south cooperation, said the release.
Ibrahimi attended, along nearly 300 African and international officials, CEOs, business leaders, economic operators, as well as NGOs delegates, the 6th edition of the African Economic Builders Forum that focused on the « challenge of sustainable and inclusive growth facing the private sector in Africa.»
According to the African Development Bank, the sector accounts for almost 90% of employment in the continent. Yet, it has a low productivity and is not well integrated into the global value chains
Debates also covered how to reconcile the imperatives of economic efficiency and social solidarity, how to strengthen human capital and help businesses to thrive, how to encourage the development of ambition-driven African champions, how to bolster women’s entrepreneurship and other business related topics.
Twenty-four other figures from Senegal, France, Rwanda, Colombia, Benin, Hong Kong, Algeria, the USA, Cameroon, UK, Nigeria, Angola, Togo, Tanzania and Guinea Bissau have been awarded the 2015 “Africa Economy Builders” prizes for their outstanding contributions to the development of the continent.
Mo Ibrahim (Sudan,) Koné Dossongui (Ivory Coast,) Louisa Mojela (South Africa,) Thierry Tanoh (Ivory Coast,), Mike Adenuga Jr (Nigeria,) Paul Obambi (Congo,) Keba Keinde (Sénégal) and many others are among the previous recipients of the Africa Economy Builders Awards, initiated by Ivorian journalist, Michel Russel Lohoré in 2006.
CFC had already won several international awards, the latest being the Best Financial Centre in the MENA region, granted by the “Middle East Capital Markets Summit & Awards 2014.”
CFC was also selected in August 2014 to host the Africa50 entity, a new landmark investment mechanism, set up by the African Development Bank, to promote infrastructure across the continent over the next three years, with an initial budget of $3 billion.