Bekele calls for the business world to balance between profit and social impact at the 2018 EurAfrican forum in Portugal

To build its social capital,”The world needs to find the right balance between profit and social impact”.

Sophia Bekele Founder & CEO of DotConnectAfrica Group Joined other distinguished speakers at the one-day exclusive High-Level 2018 EurAfrican forum held under the High Patronage of the President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and the Government of Portugal who pleaded for a “sustainable” strategy for Europe and Africa that builds bridges between the two continents

This year’s forum which was organized by special invite, is themed “Crafting Coalitions for Change, this action-oriented platform aims to foster stronger collaboration between Europe and Africa in order to promote a shared green and inclusive growth, to uncover new business opportunities and to create synergies between innovation models.

Opening the forum, the distinguished José Manuel Durão Barroso Chairman of the EurAfrican Forum welcomed the delegates saying “Africa will be the largest market in the world and the continent with the most demographic dynamism.”He added “With increased education, infrastructure, respect for basic rules and rights, Africa will be the future”

At the opening panel, “Time for Trust”, Bekele started her discussion by stating,

“There is currently a meltdown of trust globally.  The number of resignations due to ethical conducts in the government sectors as well as the actions of private sector giants such as Facebook and Google over our privacy, makes this topic of TRUST a timely issue”.

She prevailed upon the delegates to over-communicate these shared achievements using the modern social media platforms. The traditional media has shown and is biased towards its own objectives.

Europe can also develop and engage in Corporate Social Responsibility programs “CSRs” to build its social capital.”The world needs to find the right balance between profit and social impact”.

Finally she advocated a call to action for the empowered groups and leaders in Africa, which are its women and youth. We should learn just like the Chinese to take advantage of the demographic dividend we have in our youth, the largest group and future generation of Africa. Statistically, it has also been known now that African women in fact currently make up the largest women workforce in the world”, Bekele said.

Responding to the questions from the audience, Bekele reiterated the panels’ voice that Africa is the destination for trade and development, and she has high hopes for Africa. Therefore it is the opportune time to forge trusting and working with other economic regions in the world like Europe. More

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