by Akintomiwa Agbaje

Dr. Donald Kaberuka, President, Africa Development Bank Group will be joined by many leading experts drawn from various fields across and beyond the continent for the 2014 Africa CEO Round-table & Conference on Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility (AR-CSR™) scheduled to take place in Calabar from June 19-20, 2014. All is now set to host business leaders, experts and other professionals at the fourth edition of this all-inclusive CSR & Sustainability management event of the year and the first of its kind in Africa. It will focus on Financial Inclusion with the theme: ‘The Intersection: Financial Inclusion, Economic Sustainability & Social Benefit’.

Other speakers who have confirmed participation include: Brian Kuwik, Senior Vice President & Africa Regional Head, Accion. Kuwik will also serve as Lead Discussant. Others are Duncan Onyango, Director, Acumen Fund East Africa; Issam Chleuh, Founder & CEO, Africa Impact Group; Hajara Adeola, CEO, Lotus Capital; Prateek Shrivastava, Co-Founder, Beyond Branches International; Leila Ben Gacem, Founder, Blue Fish, Tunis; Henrietta Onwuegbuezie, Academic Director, Pan-Atlantic University; Monaem Ben Lellahom, Co-Founder, Sustainable Square Think-Tank; Prof. Kalu Ojah, Professor of Finance, Wits Business School, South Africa; Silvana Wanjiru, Certified Public Secretary, Capita Registrars, Kenya; Dr. Alex Otti, Group Managing Director, Diamond Bank Plc.

In a statement by the conveners, ThistlePraxis Consulting, ‘We are excited to be hosting this caliber of speakers for the event. Not only is financial inclusion relevant, it has increasingly become more topical. However, during the 4th edition of the AR-CSR, we discuss the tripartite role of financial inclusion as a trigger for sustainable development.’

Hence, the 2014 edition will seek to interrogate the intersection where financial inclusion fosters economic sustainability and enhances societal benefit. The financial industry plays a critical role for society at large: serving individuals, families, businesses, governments, civic institutions and other stakeholders. The sector performs indispensable functions such as enabling financial inclusion, facilitating saving and investment, providing protection from risks and supporting the creation of new jobs and enterprises. It is critical that the sector operates to provide these functions for society in a stable, sustainable way, and increases awareness of its activities in this area.

The AR-CSR™ platform remains relevant to discuss issues of Sustainable Corporate and Economic Development, Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility, as well as the enhancement of a public-private synergy for the attainment of a credible business environment in Africa, through comparing notes, learning new trends and providing support for organizations and practitioners alike on the constantly changing direction of businesses across the world. From a business perspective, the goal of sustainability is to increase long-term shareholder and social value, while decreasing industry’s use of materials and reducing negative impacts on the environment.

Leaders from a variety of sectors from far and wide within and outside the continent will gather to share their expertise and experiences on an array of Business and Development sub-topics and try to identify what is missing: the pooling of the most available heap of investable funds possible from all nooks and crannies of the economy and how to channel the pooled funds to attractive production activities, particularly those of small-to-medium size enterprises which are established as the main engines of economic growth and job creation across countries, thus enhancing and increasing societal growth.