The African: Why the choice of Dallas, Texas as the venue of the summit?

Florizelle Liser:  Corporate Council on Africa seeks to bring together some of the most impactful and influential African and U.S. business and government leaders to a region that has had tremendous private sector growth over the past decade. Dallas now has more Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies than most, if not all, major U.S. metropolitan areas. In addition, the Dallas metropolitan area has the third highest diaspora population (after only the New York City and Washington DC Metro areas), and Texas has the largest African diaspora population of all the states.

Furthermore, many U.S. and international companies with headquarters or major operations in Dallas are already heavily invested in Africa—from small and medium-sized enterprises to major multinational corporations. CCA will be bringing the best of what Africa has to offer with the best America.

CCA serves both government and private sector interests. Is it 50-50 or one more than the other?
Corporate Council on Africa seeks to strengthen cooperation and collaboration between governments and the private sector, believing that governments are crucial to creating environments conducive to private sector-led economic growth, which the private sector actually creates the growth. CCA has found in its 31-year history that the government and private sectors generally share similar goals, and fostering collaboration to identify pathways to achieve those goals is one of our core objectives.

What sets the upcoming summit apart from the previous ones?

The 2024 U.S.-Africa Business Summit is the first in over a decade to be held in the United States outside Washington, DC. It comes 18 months after the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit—at which CCA co-organized the U.S.-Africa Business Forum—affording the ideal opportunity to identify challenges to, and opportunities for, strengthening U.S.-Africa trade and investment relationships.

CCA has a joint event with the Millenium Challenge Corporation this year. Please tell us about that.

This year, CCA is proud to partner with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to celebrate its 20th anniversary and highlight MCC’s $10.4 billion U.S. Government investment in across more than 24 African countries since its 2004 establishment. From electrical generation and distribution projects to roads, ports, education, ICT, health and more—MCC has worked side-by-side with partner countries to deliver on priorities that promote entrepreneurialism, private sector business investment and job creation. MCC’s anniversary event promises to set the tone for the summit, showcasing government and private sector commitment to partnership, U.S.-Africa trade, investment, business, and sustainable economic development.

It’s not a perfect world. What are some of the challenges CCA encounters in its working relationship with African entities?

Corporate Council on Africa has been extremely successful engaging with African governments and the private sector. Over a decade ago, the CCA Board of Directors opened membership to African companies and organizations, joining their American counterparts to strengthen private sector investment and business relationships, and membership of both has grown.

While there are certainly challenges, Corporate Council on Africa has found that engaging African and U.S. stakeholder to develop a shared understanding of the challenges and developing solutions to them is the right approach to promoting sustainable economic development and mutual prosperity.

Your last words to conclude this interview.

Corporate Council on Africa is proud to be the premier organization solely focusing on promoting U.S.-Africa private sector success and looks forward to welcoming its U.S. and African members, other private sector executives, and senior government officials to Dallas in May!