United Nations Foundation - Global Entrepreneurs Council Supports Growing India-Africa Partnership

Business Wire India
 

• Partnership to support 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and help create a more equitable world order
• To help realize the dreams of 2 billion people and advance south-south cooperation

 
Ashish J Thakkar, Chairman, United Nations Foundation - Global Entrepreneurs Council (UNF-GEC) today offered his support to the 3rd Indian Africa Forum Summit 2015 that gets underway on Monday, 26th October 2015. The UNF-GEC believes an enduring partnership between India and continental Africa can create a roadmap that will accelerate the dreams of 1/3rd of world’s population living in these two regions. It will also directly advance the 2030 agenda for sustainable development embodied through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This is critical to creating a more equitable world order, one that furthers the hopes and aspirations of over 2 billion people.
 
Speaking on the eve of the Summit, Ashish J Thakkar, Chairman, United Nations Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council, said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative with regards to the India-Africa Summit is of significant importance. The forthcoming summit paves the way for greater strategic engagement between two very important regions and will spur economic growth not just from business-to-business perspective, but also enhance people-to-people engagement. The UNF-GEC is committed to working with the political and business leaders of both regions to further enhance this people-to-people engagement in an effort to create a sustainable connect between businesses and entrepreneurs.”
 
This growing partnership between India and Africa will advance south-south cooperation – an important means of addressing global imbalances. It will also be directly responsible for reducing regional poverty, eliminating hunger, enhancing health and well-being, enabling education for all through the sustained and inclusive economic growth, employment and work for the people of both regions.
 
Ashish J Thakkar will be in India on 28th October, his first visit after taking over as Chairman UNF-GEC earlier this year, to engage in an open-house with Indian entrepreneurs and business leaders and to further highlight the role of the UNF-GEC is furthering this initiative.
 
The linkages between the people of India and Africa goes back into history and has always been based on the principle of political equality, mutual support, respect for human rights and democratic principles and finally partnership leading to a comprehensive engagement, to march as partners in progress. More importantly, the success and continued growth of the economies of both regions is deeply connected to the enduring spirit of entrepreneurship that India and Africa share. It is this legacy that needs to be carried over to future generations – as much a shared past that witnessed a struggle against colonialism, poverty and illiteracy. As emerging economies, India and continental Africa have a lot in common- rich natural resources, similar demography and large domestic markets. This provides a natural synergy for creating platforms that help build partnerships between people to forge greater entrepreneurial linkages.
 India-Africa Trade 
Afro-Indian trade grew steadily at an average rate of 32 percent annually from 2005 to 2011. This growth was spurred by Indian private investments in ICT, energy, automobile manufacturing, and telecommunications. In the span of less than a decade, since 2007, Afro-Indian trade has more than doubled from US$ 25 billion to US$ 57 billion, while two-way trade is estimated to have reached US$ US$ 90 billion by the end of 2015.
 
African leaders and Indian industrialists have expressed their joint vision of realizing US$ 500 billion in trade between Africa and India by 2020. African exports to India are growing at a rate of 32 percent annually, while India’s exports to Africa are growing at a rate of 23 percent. Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa account for about 89 percent of Africa’s total export trade with India.
 
For more information on United Nations Foundation Global Entrepreneurship Council, please visit- www.unfoundation.org/GEC
 
About United Nations Foundation Global Entrepreneurs Council

The United Nations Foundation Global Entrepreneurs Council (GEC) is a strategic advisory council designed to bring together successful, high-profile, entrepreneurs and thought leaders who are committed to finding innovative solutions to global problems. Created in 2011, the GEC is comprised of audacious leaders from various industries to help the UN and the UN Foundation – and its campaigns, partnerships, and programs – reach new audiences and enhance public-private partnerships. Council members have focused their work with the UN Foundation on issues such as advancing education and empowerment, supporting refugees, bringing citizen voices to the UN at-scale, and broadening the scope of and ability to create partnership opportunities with the UN. This preeminent group carries on Ted Turner’s bold example of global leadership and his desire to bring entrepreneurism and creative ideas to humanitarian issues, constituted in his commitment of one billion dollars to the United Nations 15 years ago. Ashish J. Thakkar is the Chairman of the Council.
 
About the United Nations Foundation
 
The United Nations Foundation builds public-private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems, and broadens support for the United Nations through advocacy and public outreach. Through innovative campaigns and initiatives, the Foundation connects people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. The Foundation was created in 1998 as a U.S. public charity by entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner and now is supported by global corporations, foundations, governments, and individuals. Learn more at www.unfoundation.org
 
About Ashish J. Thakkar
 
Ashish is the Chairman, United Nations Foundation - Global Entrepreneurs Council (UNF-GEC) and Founder of the Mara Group and the Mara Foundation. Through its investments and operations, Mara Group now employs over 11,000 people across 22 African countries in sectors spanning technology, banking & financial services, infrastructure, and real estate. He co-founded Atlas Mara, a joint venture with Atlas Merchant Capital. Since its 2013 LSE listing, the entity has announced the acquisition of three banks, giving it an immediate presence in seven African countries.
 
Ashish is passionate about enabling, empowering and inspiring young and women entrepreneurs. To that end, in 2009, he founded Mara Foundation to foster and support emerging entrepreneurs through mentorship and venture philanthropy.
 
Being a global thought leader on entrepreneurship, Ashish is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Africa and was recently awarded the Future Awards ‘Young Leader’ Award. In 2014, Ashish also won the MTV Base Leadership Award and was one of the first Africans to be featured in Fortune’s 40 under 40 list. Ashish advises several heads of state in Sub-Saharan Africa, and sits on Dell’s Global Advisory Board and the Board of 'The Africa Center', a creative space on New York’s Fifth Avenue that has a vision of becoming Africa's embassy to the world based.