BUSINESSMED, represented by its president, Mrs. Saida Neghza, and an important number of representatives of business communities coming from 40 European and African countries participated actively in Stars in Africa Forum. The forum was held in the iHUB incubator in Nairobi, Kenya, on 6^th and 7^th March 2018 in the view of promoting the role of young African entrepreneurs as actors of inclusive and sustainable growth in the continent.

Stars in Africa was organized by Active Growth & Youth Program- AGYP, powered by MEDEF and opened by the Kenyan President, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta. This EU-African Forum was an opportunity to strengthen the links between business federations, young entrepreneurs and business communities from Africa and Europe. Stars in Africa brought together representatives of African employers’ organizations, European delegations and high-level speakers to attend different activities such as keynotes, plenary and workshops on relevant topics, e.g. youth, women and employability, tech industry and agro-business. Also marketplaces were held to promote matchmaking and concrete projects between the participating business communities.

During the conference, Mrs Neghza highlighted the importance of such events and the role of BUSINESSMED as a Mediterranean employers’ organization that strives to strengthen the bounds between the African and European business communities by creating a suitable business environment between the two continents through a new approach: the vertical axe Europe-Mediterranean-Africa.

This strategic vision was debated during the high level meeting between BUSINESSMED and MEDEF in February 2018, as a part of a larger discussion focusing on job creation and capacity building for young people and women and the necessity of accelerating regional integration and multilateral cooperation where the Mediterranean can play a major role.

Moreover Mrs Saida Neghza announced the organization of an international economic forum in Alger in the second half of the current year. This forum will be organized by BUSINESSMED, The General Confederation of Algerian Enterprises and the International Organization of Employers and gather the most important employers’ organizations from Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean.