t is Monday the 30th of May, 2022. All roads lead to Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra for the 6th edition of the Ghana CEO Summit, the foremost business conference for CEOs, heads of state, entrepreneurs, business leaders, board members, investors, directors-general, ambassadors, ministers of state, consultants and policy-makers who are committed to unlocking Ghana’s economic potential.
The summit offers concrete, innovative and actionable solutions, champions private sector growth, leads discussions around game-changing public policies, and advocates for best growth-oriented practices to help the country move forward, build resilient companies and develop outstanding CEOs.
Left to right: Ernest Egyir, Founder of Ghana CEO Summit; President Akufo-Addo, and Edward Effah, Founder of Fidelity Bank at the 3rd Ghana CEO Summit in 2018
Summit theme
The 2022 summit is being held under the theme: ‘Digital Leadership for the Digital Economy: Leading Digital Business and Government Transformation; a public-private sector CEO dialogue and learning’. In the digital age, leadership is no longer hierarchical but digital. Digital leadership is about empowering others to lead and creating self-organised teams that optimise their day-to-day operations. To thrive in the digital age, organisations need to transition from ‘doing’ digital to ‘being’ digital.
Digital transformation requires a holistic transformation which calls for leaders who are willing and able to leverage innovation, fail fast and drive value. The summit will explore questions such as: Are leaders sufficiently equipped to drive digital transformation? With increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, what steps must be taken to nurture digital leadership? With the pace of disruption driven by the digital revolution, what strategies must businesses deploy to harness the benefits of digital leadership?
Presidential dialogue
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who is the special guest of honour, will deliver a keynote address. Further, he will engage in a dialogue with the CEOs on important issues ranging from resetting of the economic development agenda to public sector leadership, business regulatory reforms, social inclusion and digital economy agenda of government.
Speakers, panel discussions and panelists
The summit adopts a dynamic approach to deliver the value to its stakeholders. There will be CEO panel discussions and plenary presentations on thematic areas of business leadership and policy.
The Digital Economy plenary session will tackle the summit’s theme: ‘Digital Leadership for the Digital Economy: Leading Digital Business and Government Transformation; a public-private sector CEO dialogue and learning’.
Further, there will be a CEO Business Case plenary dialogue which will explore how local businesses can be radically transformed to become multi-national entities to traverse and transcend the African continent. In this session, selected accomplished CEOs will share and explain how they strategised and executed corporate strategies in many African countries. They will also share how they tackled the cultural, human and logistical challenges that bedevilled such expansions and growth.
Also, a Ministerial and Public Sector CEOs dialogue session will focus on how to foster high level public-private collaboration. Panelists will give expositions on ministerial policy outlook, impact on the ease of doing business, business regulatory reforms, solutions to the canker of corruption and voluntary collaboration between government and the business community.
Additionally, a dialogue session that discusses the economy and ease of doing business will focus on strategies and measures to reset Ghana’s economy and improve the ease of doing business.
The Boardroom-Corporate Governance plenary will seek to offer ideas on how to resolve the digital transformation deficit in the boardroom. Traditional boardrooms remain an enclave of static spreadsheets, presentations and decision-making based on what has already happened, not what the future may hold, which is obviously vital for making decisions in today’s ever-changing business environment. Now is the time for enterprises to make their boardrooms digital to keep up with digital disruptions and remain competitive.
The Ghana healthcare plenary session will discuss transforming healthcare with software and Artificial Intelligence as medical devices and how businesses can use innovative technologies to tackle climate change and sustainable development.
Another significant aspect of the summit will be an all-female panel that will explore the subject matter of women, leadership and the world in the pandemic era. This session will climax with the launch of the Women CEO Leadership Network.
Summit history and impact
Founded in 2016, the Ghana CEO Summit is the largest annual gathering of Ghana’s private sector CEOs, decision-makers, international investors, multinational executives and representatives operating in Ghana and beyond. The summit is a thought leadership platform that enables private sector and public sector leaders to engage in high-level business meetings, sharing experiences, exploring business opportunities, brokering partnerships and identifying trends.
With over 500 participating companies, 50 attending journalists from 20 global and local media outlets, streamed live on social media with over 100,000 global views, 80% of attendees feel a great sense of significance and satisfaction in their personal and professional lives, and 75% of attendees identifying & clinching business opportunities.
The summit is an initiative of CEO Network Ghana in partnership with Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, Deloitte, University of Ghana, Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, Ministry of Public Enterprises and State Interests and Governance Authority.
