The 8th African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Award dinner brought together more than 200 leading African political, business and diplomatic leaders in Johannesburg. The African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Awards is now the most popular vote-based third-party endorsement in Africa. The event brought together South African Deputy President David D Mabuza, SouthAfrica Ministers Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Lindiwe Zulu, and Dr Ken Giami, Publisher of African Leadership Magazine, with a subject entitled ‘ Africa for Africans – Exploring the Gains of a Connected Continent.
The keynote talk given by Dr. Adesina was the highlight of the event. His love for the continent was evident and he spoke to the supportive audience. Dr. Adesina said “Humbled to be nominated by what I gather to be 60% of the votes cast by some 1 million people, humbled to be at the helm of an organisation that is making a tremendous difference across Africa – the African Development Bank. An organisation that is daily making prosperity a reality.”
Dr Adesina, visionary behind the high-five strategy of the African Development Bank, described that the African Development Bank focuses primarily on “to light up and power Africa, to feed Africa, to industrialise Africa, to integrate Africa, and to improve the quality of life of the people of Africa. Five simple, strategic, and highly focused objectives.” The second keynote speech was given by the South African Deputy President, David Mabuza. The award was taken on behalf of President Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan and Dr Riek Machar Teny, his first vice president, Mabuza said: “the struggles of our people and their development aspirations remain fundamentally intertwined with those of fellow Africans elsewhere on the Continent.” He added: “these are the values that President Oliver Tambo and President Nelson Mandela taught us. Our commitment to the cause of a prosperous and better Africa is unwavering. It is in that spirit that as a country, we have placed our resources both human and financial, to the resolutions of conflicts.”
Dr. Adesina was elected the African Development Bank’s 8th President in 2015. For more than 30 years, he has been a pioneer in agriculture innovation in Africa. In contributing to the economic growth of Africa, he has helped strengthen food security in the continent and promoted a workable model of agri-business.
Under his leadership, in the past four years, the bank has helped 18 million people get electricity, 141 million people get agricultural technologies, 13 million people get finance through private sector investee companies, 101 million people get improved transport services, and 60 million people get better water and sanitation.
Click here to download the speech (https://bit.ly/2TvVJGr)
Dr Adesina is in good company joining some notable previous winners of the African of the Year
Award:
Former Liberian President and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (2011)
Sudanese businessman, Mo Ibrahim (2012)
Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar (2013)
Former President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete (2014)
Former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan (2015)
Tanzanian businessman and philanthropist,Mo Dewji (2016)
President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame (2017)
Prime Minister of Ethiopia and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Abiy Ahmed (2018)
Data Source: African Development Bank Group (AfDB)
