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Africa Works! 2022

NABC's flagship conference Africa Works! took place for the fifth time on the 28th of June in Amare, The Hague.

Africa Works! Innovation for Resilient Growth

The importance of innovation has been further emphasised by the COVID-19 crisis that exposed the fragility of interconnected economies, leading to calls for increased “resilience” in the recovery phase. Innovative thinking is increasingly promoted to address some of the grand challenges of the 21st century: providing food, water, and energy to the continent’s soaring population (by 2030, one in five people will be African), while staying within the limits of an intricately linked system that is undergoing (climate) change. Africa Works! 2022 is designed to promote and facilitate international trade between Africa and the Netherlands, facilitate foreign direct investment in Africa, and provide a platform to expand or establish business operations in Africa.

Africa Works! 2022 once again featured world-class speakers, high-quality workshops and interesting country-focus sessions, investment pitches, and networking.

Theme of Africa Works! 2022

Within the overarching theme “Innovation for Resilient Growth”, Africa Works! 2022 – together with knowledge partner TNO – focused on innovative solutions for sustainable economic recovery including challenges linked to food, water, and energy in Africa. The main questions that were addressed included – what can be done to support Africa in taking ‘the great jump forward’? And what role can the private sector – Dutch and African – play in this?

Africa Works! aimed to:

Accelerate the financing of priority investments projects;
Make visible the investment and trade opportunities in different African countries;
Connect Dutch/European companies with competent authorities, and businesses from Africa;
Accelerate strategic partnerships between businesses;
Facilitate Public-Private-Partnerships;
Connect international investors with interesting and fast-growing companies; and
Much more!

What participants think of us...

"I was truly honoured and pleased to attend Africa Works! 2019, and be part of the panel discussion. The conference was a fantastic networking event and I learned a great deal from interactions with many attendees. Congratulations to the whole NABC team for putting together such a well organised event! I look forward to continuing working together with NABC."

"Africa Works! 2019 was an abundance of ideas, networks and colour, all in a quaint old warehouse embracing the new amidst all the old. The camaraderie was great and the speakers credible and inspiring and conversation flowed, interspersed with moments when we all felt ‘with so much going for us let’s all get going now‘. The lasting message was: ‘’let’s change the narrative, there is more good in Africa than people hear and there’s not enough bad for people to talk only about the bad."

"Africa Works! provided a platform for participants seeking solutions to identified City growth challenges to interact with others who have previously experienced or have expertise in addressing such challenges from both the public and private sector. It is a platform that could serve as a major resource hub for City solutions in the future."

Africa Works! 2022 supports

Conference Organiser

NABC is the leading Dutch networking organisation for trade and investment facilitation on the African continent.