JETRO Topics
Dialogue between renowned African entrepreneur ブラック ジャック web JETRO Chairman
January 2019
On January 28, JETRO Chairman ブラック ジャック web CEO Hiroyuki Ishige visited Lagos, the largest city in Nigeria, ブラック ジャック web had a meeting with Chairman Tony Elumelu of the United Bank for Africa (UBA), which is doing business in 20 African countries as well as Europe ブラック ジャック web the US.
Chairman Elumelu is a self-made business person who was selected as one of “The 20 Most Powerful People In African Business 2012
" by Forbs. He founded the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) in 2010 ブラック ジャック web jointly started the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme with international organizations including the International Committee of the Red Cross ブラック ジャック web the United Nations Development Programme. With the aim of cultivating 10,000 entrepreneurs in Africa over a ten-year period, the program has been providing seed capital of 5,000 dollars each to 1,000 companies per year. Through this ブラック ジャック web the African Markets Internship Programme, which matches African SMEs ブラック ジャック web MBA students from the best business schools in Africa ブラック ジャック web other regions, he has been using business as a medium to solve various social problems faced by African countries.
Dialogue between Chairman Elumelu ブラック ジャック web Chairman Ishige
During the dialogue, Chairman Ishige explained that interest in African startups has been growing in Japan ブラック ジャック web introduced JETRO's efforts in matching Japanese companies ブラック ジャック web African startups through the creation ブラック ジャック web release of the List of 100 African Startups. This was followed by a proposal by Chairman Elumelu to use his foundation, which has a network of 400,000 entrepreneurs, to contribute to matching with Japanese companies. In response, Mr. Ishige brought up the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) to be held in Yokohama at the end of August, as well as a business event to be concurrently organized by JETRO, ブラック ジャック web requested Mr. Elumelu’s participation.
After the dialogue, a networking reception was held by the UBA for Japanese ブラック ジャック web Nigerian companies, consisting of lively exchange by more than 100 people from both countries.
Networking reception
At the business forum to be held in tブラック ジャック webem with TICAD7, JETRO is planning to use “collaboration with African startups” as one angle for Japanese companies to consider starting business in Africa.
