Over the past 10 years, Concordia has demonstrated agility in our commitment to engaging our community in purposeful ways. In shifting to digital, we have maintained our high standard of content, production, partnership development, and strategic networking support in a way that promotes and amplifies the goals of our sponsors, members, and partners.
Officially launched at the 2018 Concordia Annual Summit, Concordia Africa aims to foster, elevate, and sustain cross-sector partnerships for social impact on the African continent. Shaped and driven by local stakeholders, the program strives to build sustainable, scalable, and inclusive partnerships towards positive economic and social impact among governments, the private sector, and civil society.
The 2020 Concordia Africa Initiative brought together Concordia’s global community and network to engage with stakeholders from across the African continent, ranging from entrepreneurs to public sector leaders, innovators, and civil society groups. Thematic emphases included youth agency and employment solutions, financial inclusion, and entrepreneurship and local strategies, along with related topics such as the role of digital, education and training, diaspora engagement, trade, infrastructure, and investment.
Expanded adoption of digital technology across Africa carries the potential to be a boon for many urgent economic and social impact priorities, ranging from financial inclusion to entrepreneurship and healthcare. Whether in the form of artificial intelligence or basic digital services like internet access, digitalization is a crucial trend in Africa and other emerging markets. Through this programming, Concordia convened policymakers, industry stakeholders from tech, ICT, and power, and entrepreneurs to discuss effective collaboration on scaling digital transformation and innovation ecosystems across the continent.
Vital for economic recovery, investing in infrastructure, logistical capacity, and equitable access to capital on the African continent represents a tremendous opportunity for impact. With African markets taking on an increasingly important position within global supply chains, the need for partnerships in sustainable infrastructure, financial inclusion, and logistics is critical, especially with the sizable financing gaps that remain according to the African Development Bank. Concordia brought together diverse players from industry, governments, and multilaterals to advance sustainable infrastructure development, financial inclusion, and resilient, logistically sound, supply chains
Ranging from short-term pandemic response to the importance of addressing the increased risk of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and malnutrition brought by the global crisis, examining multi-sector approaches to public health in Africa has taken on even greater importance in 2020. Concordia convened key stakeholders from a diverse range of industries, governments, and NGOs to discuss how health objectives, resources, and services can best be aligned to support sustained public health impact across the continent.
With just a decade left to achieve the goals set forth in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, environmental sustainability has become an increasingly pressing issue. This is especially true for Africa as one of the regions that is most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Already, African countries are taking action, as seen by innovative regeneration projects like the Great Green Wall. Concordia’s programming explored the next steps for adapting to climate change, driving innovation in conservation efforts, and partnering to create long-lasting sustainability measures.
With over 60% of Africa’s population dependent on agriculture as a means of employment and subsistence, trade-related disruptions in the wake of COVID-19 are exacerbating food insecurity and economic vulnerability in the region. Compounded by challenges such as climate change, locust outbreaks, and political conflict, there are major obstacles to building a resilient food and agriculture sector. Though many agricultural-technology startups are developing solutions to address the needs of smallholder farmers, limited venture capital investment is hindering overall growth. Concordia brought together key industry players to push forward progress in creating a sustainable food system and scaling employment in African agribusiness.
