Conference Programme

This the programme of the EU-African SME Conference, for the programme of the Shared Value Business Lab workshop preceding the summit please click here

Brussels, March 21, 2019

EU-African SME Conference

CoR_Hosted by_logo

Africa – a continent of opportunities for SMEs… and how to make them happen!

Venue: tbd

Entrance formalities, registration of the participants and welcome coffee
09:30 h
Welcoming
10:00 h
Mr. Maurizio Casasco, First Vice-President of European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME and President of CONFAPI
Opening Impulse
10:15 h
Dr. Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy
Keynote Speech
10:40 h
Mr. Albert M. Muchanga, Commissioner of the African Union for Industry and Trade (tbc)
Keynote Speech
11:00 h
Mrs. Jutta Urpilainen, Commissioner of the European Union for International partnerships (tbc)
A big opportunity: the new African Continental Free Trade Agreement AfCFTA
11:20 h
Mr. Kebour Ghenna, Executive Director of the Pan-African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PACCI)
Why European SMEs should take Africa much more seriously
11:40 h
Prof. Mario Ohoven – President of European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME and of Der Mittelstand/BVMW (D)
The importance of direct exchange among entrepreneurs of the two continents
12:00 h
Mr. Jean-Claude Tchatchouang, Executive Director of the World Bank
Pitch the opportunities: success stories of doing business in Africa
12:20 h
–  fashion entrepreneur (speaker tbd)

– sustainable added value agriculture in Africa– entrepreneur (speaker tbd)

– mobile digital revolution – entrepreneur (speaker tbd)

– manufacturing and professional training in Africa, entrepreneur (speaker tbd)

–  trade with Africa (speaker tbd)

– Mr. Daniel David, media and communication (Mozambique)

– Smart energy for Africa (speaker tbd)

–  Health services (speaker tbd)

Lunch break
13:30 h
14:30 h
The Italian-African SME Alliance: Signature of the Memorandum of Understanding introduced by:

Ms. Annalisa Guidotti, Director Public Affairs and PR of CONFAPI

Make it happen: share and compare the best roads to Africa for SMEs
15:00 h
– Mrs. Bienvenue Angui, Manager of the German-African SME Alliance and “Le Mittelstand” at Der Mittelstand/BVMW (D)

– Mr. Koen Doens, Director General DG DEVCO, European Commission (tbc)

– Rear Admiral Jürgen Ehle, Senior Military Advisor to the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Managing Director of CSDP and Crisis Response, European External Action Service (EEAS)

–other speakers tbd

Moderator: Mr. Stefan Moritz, Managing Director of European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME

Discussion with the participants
16:00 h
Closing remarks by
16:30 h
Prof. Horst Fischer, Univ. of Leiden and Univ. of Columbia
Networking Coffee
16:45 h
End of the EU-African SME Conference 2020
17:30 h
Working language is English. We will offer simultaneous interpretation for italian, French and German.