Mr Alex Apau Dadey, Executive Chairman of the KGL Group and former Board Chairman of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), has called on African leaders and the private sector to deepen partnerships in order to create global business giants capable of competing on the world stage.
Speaking in New York at the opening of the Forward Africa Leaders Symposium 2025, held in partnership with the Africa Peer Review Mechanism at NASDAQ, Mr Dadey emphasised that Africa’s transformation hinged on how quickly and inclusively it harnessed change through genuine and strategic Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).
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“The answer, I believe, lies in the strength of partnerships, genuine, strategic PPPs that unite the innovation, capital, and execution capacity of the private sector with the legitimacy, reach, and enabling authority of governments,” he stated.
The symposium gathered high-profile leaders, including H.E. Dr Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, President of Namibia; Mr Ntsokoane Samuel Matekane, Prime Minister of Lesotho; H.E. Mohamed AbdulEnien, Deputy Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament and Chair of Cleopatra Group; and Mr Ralph Mupita, President and CEO of MTN Group, to deliberate on digital transformation, innovation and partnership opportunities across Africa.
Recounting a career spanning over 30 years across Europe, Africa and more than 25 countries, Mr Dadey said his vision for the continent was anchored in multilateral collaboration, socio-economic inclusion of the diaspora, and technology-driven growth. He stressed that while governments provided legitimacy and frameworks, it was the private sector that created wealth and drove innovation.
“Governments on their own cannot drive transformation, but sadly, private enterprises that do are most often treated as afterthoughts in national strategies,” he noted.
Highlighting the ethos of the KGL Group and the KGL Foundation’s social interventions, he said successful PPP models proved that wealth generated must leave a lasting impact on society. He challenged African economies to question why multinational corporations repatriate wealth from the continent while local businesses struggle to scale globally.
According to him, Africa must deliberately nurture “African Global Giants” capable of anchoring supply chains, providing patient capital, and inspiring new generations of entrepreneurs. “We need an ecosystem where a start-up in Accra can realistically envision becoming a multi-billion-dollar entity that lists here on NASDAQ,” he said.
Mr Dadey concluded by urging leaders to support and celebrate African champions, warning: “We cannot build economies of scale if we constantly cut down the tallest trees.”
