The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed the world and how we do business. Already companies across Africa have taken rapid and significant steps to initiate community emergency relief efforts. Simultaneously, the private sector has focused on business continuity – securing the supply of essential products; protecting workforces; and engaging customers.
While relief efforts were largely socially driven, there is also one shared business motive – only through healthy, economically active communities can business ensure its own sustainability.
This philosophy is in line with the 2020 Shared Value Vision for Africa, namely that communities and business will reap the long-term benefits of pandemic-spawned opportunities for decades to come; with collaborative efforts spanning economic sectors and geographic borders becoming a way of doing business to the benefit of all on the continent.
This vision will also be front of mind for a network of purpose-led African business leaders, who will participate in the continent’s first ever virtual Shared Value event from 2-5 June. The physical event was originally scheduled to take place in Rwanda on 4-5 June 2020, and was to have been the fourth Africa Shared Value Leadership Summit.
Titled Beyond Borders: 2020 Africa Shared Value Leadership eSummit, the virtual event continues the Shared Value conversation, albeit in the context of COVID-19 experiences. It provides an interactive platform for business leaders and practitioners to deliberate opportunities and innovations capable of fuelling Africa’s transformation and economic revival.
Guided by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, digital conversations will focus on challenges faced by business in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, in particular how business has had to adapt and the economic recovery outlook for the region. Specifically, business leaders will discuss how, by focusing on “profit with purpose”, organisations can contribute to reducing inequality and building economic prosperity for all.
Create a platform to openly discuss how we, as Shared Value practitioners, can support society at large while trying to reduce the risk to our businesses in a post-pandemic world.
Discuss how Shared Value practitioners have responded to this changing world and the new normal
Fuel critical conversations on how we can continue to operate within the current situation – and beyond
Stimulate ideas and questions on how we support our respective supply chains moving forward
Demonstrate the impact that cross-sector collaboration can have beyond borders and in a post-pandemic world.
Elevate the importance of purpose-led organisations and leadership.
Be inspired by how Shared Value can drive social and economic change in Africa. Hear from a diverse group of thinkers and doers in a series of 20 interactive webinar sessions during the Shared Value Week.
Our speakers offer pragmatic, real-world insights on how Shared Value thinking can drive Africa’s growth.
Be part of the solution. Explore how Shared Value thinking can take your business to the next level and make Africa an economic powerhouse. Network and connect online.
Engage fellow attendees on pressing issues facing African businesses and share your opinion during live polls.
Be the shared value driver and change agent in your business and your community. Content presented during the Shared Value Week has been crafted for c-level decision-makers: from the CEO, CFO, and CMO to the MD and Divisional Heads. Topics to be covered include, among other, leadership, partnerships, competitive value chain, sustainable development, governance, transformation, collaboration, innovation, product development, and innovation. It is relevant to established businesses, as well as start-ups and entrepreneurs.
The Shared Value Africa Initiative (SVAI) is a pan-African organisation intent on driving this change by building a powerful collaborative network of established and start-up businesses across the continent. The SVAI is the regional partner of the US-based Shared Value Initiative started by Prof Porter and Mark Kramer, and part of a global Shared Value community that also includes partner organisations in Australia, Hong Kong, India, and Brazil.
With a strong footprint in South Africa and Kenya, and establishing a presence in Zimbabwe, Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Zambia, Lesotho and now Rwanda, SVAI operates with the intention that sustainable growth in Africa lies business aligning their profit with purpose, and seeking opportunities to collaborate for this greater good.
The SVAI brings businesses and business communities from across Africa together with a common purpose: build ecosystems to drive the growth of the African economy; establish and grow partnerships among various stakeholder groups, including regional and national corporations, governments, non-profit organisations, and multilateral and bilateral development agencies and foundations. Its main objective is to build one of Africa’s most powerful business networks.
