Online Reporter
Obey Musiwa
Herald Reporter
REPRESENTATIVES from across Africa have arrived in the country ahead of the Africa Summit, set for today in Harare.
The event, hosted by Concord Young Women in Business International, is drawing policymakers, innovators, and entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries.
The arrival of more delegates has underscored the summit’s role in advancing Vision 2030, strengthening cultural exchange, and empowering young women in business.
Concord South Africa country director Ms Tshepo Mathabatha said that the arrival of delegates strengthens the summit’s mandate to empower women and expand intra-African trade.
“Essentially, the Summit is a platform to network and collaborate, really to discuss empowerment, how we can ensure that we are building a sustainable way of interacting from an economic perspective,” she said.
“When we look at the beauty industry, it’s a multi-million-dollar industry. We need to ensure that we tap into those value chains as a collective.
“So really, these platforms ensure that we can connect, that is the first thing. Secondly, inspire one another by telling the good stories and lastly, to trade, because we know we have this dream of promoting intra-African trade.”
Concord Young Women in Business International spokesperson Belinda Mthombeni highlighted that the influx of delegates will enrich Zimbabwe’s economic and social agenda, aligning with national development strategies.
“This will benefit our country economically, and it will drive economic emancipation in the manner that we have different policy makers, innovators, and entrepreneurs coming from all across Africa,” she said.
“These are thought leaders that have established policies that have advanced other countries and they will be able to come into the country and share some of these ideas to our entrepreneurs, driving our own growth and holistically Africa as a whole.”
She emphasised that the presence of delegates from all 54 African nations will open opportunities for young women to network and learn.
“It is open to the public, to all young women, and this will empower and enable them to come and network and also get to have ideas from different entrepreneurs in terms of the rich discussions and the networking opportunities.,” she said.
In her sentiment, Summit moderator Dr Primrose Kurima said the historic nature of Zimbabwe hosting the summit and welcoming the arrival of new delegations.
“This is the first time that this summit is being hosted in Zimbabwe to recognise very hard-working women and men who have been making an impact,” said Dr Kurima.
“We really do believe that with the theme “Africa We Want”, it is going to build a lot of momentum and energy as we go towards Vision 2030.”
