Cairo hosts successful African conference

On 27-29 April, we held our African regional conference in Cairo with over 21 delegates and guests in attendance. This was an opportunity to explore important topics, foster collaboration among colleagues on the continent and share information about recent initiatives.

The first day of the conference kicked off with keynote speaker, Mustafa El Maghraby, the Co-Founder of the start-up DUBZ with his session exploring entrepreneurship and the journey to a successful acquisition. Mustafa spoke to the group about the dramatic rise in start-ups and innovative technologies investment in Africa in recent years. He explored what investors look for in startups, the keys to success in any strategic collaboration and how professional services firm can support start-ups in realising their aspirations. Mustafa spoke about the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship and shared his own experience of a successful acquisition of his start-up by Emirates.

We were particularly excited to formally introduce one of our newest African member firms Watson Incorporated (Cape Town, South Africa). During the afternoon, we held a session led by our Africa board directors to discuss opportunities in Africa and how they relate to intra-Africa or international markets.

Paul Wan (Paul Wan & Co. and Morison Global Chairman) led a session sharing the key requirements and challenges in setting up a corporate finance practice and talked about his own journey in building his successful corporate finance practice spanning many countries, before we welcomed Pierre Catelin from Ebury, who hosted a forum focusing on bringing Fintech services directly to clients' doors. In his presentation, Pierre discussed how Ebury serves as a reliable and trusted foreign exchange (FX) partner. He highlighted how the work that they do empowers clients by providing excellent service to add value to their businesses.

After the day’s full professional programme, delegates took the chance to unwind and enjoy a memorable evening of Egyptian entertainment cruising along the famous river Nile at the Nile Pharaohs Cruising Restaurant.

To kick-off day two we welcomed Aisha Gad from Dale Carnegie, who led a highly interactive and lively workshop on the importance of business collaboration. Aisha talked about how important collaboration is for companies today, and how organizations must work together to overcome problems that seem insurmountable when tackled individually.

After the professional sessions, delegates had the opportunity to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Giza Pyramids for an afternoon of networking and exploring.

We would like to thank all of our speakers for joining us and making this conference one to remember!

Special thanks to our conference host firms AHG and Nasr A. Abbas Ahmed & Co for their assistance and support with the organization and planning, as well as all our members and invited guests who travelled to Cairo in order ensure the success of the conference.