NEW
YORK - Dangote Foundation and
GBCHealth have joined forces to forge a new model of partnership, African
Business Coalition on Health (GBCHealth) in Africa.
Chairman of Dangote Foundation, Aliko Dangote, shared plans to build an African
Business Coalition on Health (ABCHealth), during the Bloomberg Global
Business Forum, he was co-hosting, and which took place alongside the
United Nations General Assembly this week in New York.
According to him, the African-led coalition of companies and philanthropists,
will seek to improve the health and wellbeing of Africans, both within the
workplace and within the broader communities.
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He stated that the
partnership will develop and deploy impactful health programs across Africa, deepening knowledge, building evidence for future
investment and strengthening coordination among African philanthropists,
business leaders, companies and local business networks.
The Coalition is building on the leadership, reputation and convening power of
the Aliko Dangote Foundation and the experience, reputation and global reach of
GBCHealth. Critical issues that will be the focus of the
partnership ranges from nutrition to malaria, with priorities identified
and agreed by local leadership.
Through his Foundation, Dangote has made an unprecedented grant and seed
contribution to GBCHealth of US$ 1.5 million over three years as a call to
action and a signal to the African business community of the importance of
working together and investing in health.
“The time is ripe for the private sector to proactively demonstrate its value
in partnering to lead a new era in development,” said Dangote. “The coalition
can provide much needed guidance to ensure activities and investments are
driving results in areas where the private sector can have real impact,
focusing on holistic and integrated solutions that cross borders. We look
forward to working with other business leaders as partners in development to
drive this impact.”
Co-chair of GBCHealth’s Board of Directors, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede
said, “This coalition brings together two heavyweights in the health and
development arena”.
“Together we have an opportunity to demonstrate how investing in health and
creating healthier populations, can help business maximize shareholder value,
accelerate economic growth and make entry into new markets more feasible.”
The coalition will have five primary objectives over its first three years:
1. Incubate partnerships on
priority health programs to enhance and accelerate results;
2. Work directly with companies
to optimize workplace and community health programs; Advocate for policies and
initiatives that drive system-level changes; Create a hub of data and insights
specific to Africa and African business; Curate leadership events to convene
and drive action around common health issues, across sectors. The program will
kick off in Nigeria and roll
out through business regions in Africa and
beyond over the next three years.
3. The continent currently has 400 companies with revenue of more than $1 billion
per year, and these companies are growing faster, and are more profitable in
general, than their global peers. Coupled with these fast-moving regional
leaders, small and growing businesses create 80% of the continent’s employment
and are stoking the engines of growth.
4. Against this backdrop, according to Dangote, there’s a new cadre of
responsible business leaders and philanthropists who understand the value and
promise of sustainable large-scale investments in African countries, and are
poised to make an even bigger impact on the continent’s people and economies.
5. Investments in better training, healthcare and supply chain accountability have
demonstrated direct financial return through gains in productivity and
efficiency, while support for social programs has accelerated economic growth
and raised incomes which in turn unlocks a wider consumer base and makes entry
into new markets more feasible.
In her comments, CEO of the Dangote Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou, said
“GBCHealth has a strong track record of bringing diverse groups together to
improve the health wellbeing of communities. We look forward to collaborating
to build an African business community united as a force for healthier and more
inclusive development.”
“What is needed now is an approach that combines the value of local insights
and trusted networks with the leverage of a global platform and
expertise to support the more coordinated and impactful involvement of the
African private sector across the continent and within the global development
community,” commented Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede.
“The coalition builds on the local-to-global business approach we have
developed in Nigeria
through our work with the Corporate Alliance on Malaria in Africa (CAMA). The
Aliko Dangote Foundation has demonstrated expertise in implementing
result-oriented health programs in Nigeria
and across Africa. We look forward to our
collaboration to bring insights from this work to a global audience,” said
Nancy Wildfeir-Field, President of GBCHealth.
Immediate plans include hiring an African based CEO for ABCHealth, and building
a support base for the coalition working towards a launch in early
2018.
The foundation is generously providing office space and support for coalition
staff over the first three years of development.
“It’s an ambitious and bold project,” said Dangote, “but the only way to move
Africa forward is to take bold moves, to think big, dream big and do big things
together – breaking down silos, working across borders and working across
sectors– with government and with each other.”