Nigerian entrepreneur and African philanthropist, Tony O. Elumelu is set to discuss how to scale clean-energy investment to meet developing-country needs on a panel at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Friday, 22 January 2016.
Mr. Elumelu is expected to frame his remarks and calls to action in the context of Africapitalism, the economic philosophy that embodies the private sector’s commitment to the economic transformation of Africa through long-term investments that create both economic prosperity and social wealth.
In the panel, “Catalysing Clean Power,” Mr. Elumelu is to describe areas of focus for the private sector, governments and research institutions that hope to expand access to and reduce the cost of energy for developing countries. The areas of focus are Off-grid technologies, Battery power, Clean cooking methods and Environmentally sustainable power generation.
The “Catalysing Clean Power” panel will also include Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Takehiko Nakao, President of the Asian Development Bank (ABD) and Francesco Starace, CEO and general manager of Enel Group, an Italian manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas.
Mr. Elumelu who is also the Chairman of Heirs Holdings and founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, will also delve into how philanthropists can create legacies of impact in a separate panel, “What Worth is Wealth,” as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Parminder Vir, CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, will be in attendance at WEF. Ms. Vir will speak at a reception on business engagement in the SDGs hosted by the UN Foundation and the Forum of Young Global Leaders (YGL).
About 40 global leaders and 2,500 business and civil society leaders gathered in the Swiss alps, Davos, yesterday to discuss pertinent issues affecting the world with the hope of making it a bit better.
Working with the theme “Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution”, the World Economic Forum this year, which will come to a close on the 23rd of January 2016, will focus on how to fuse advancements in technology with our current physical, digital and biological worlds.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution refers to the ongoing transformation of our society and economy, driven by advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous vehicles, 3-D printing, nanotechnology and other areas of science.
Davos 2016 will discuss critical current challenges such as security, climate change, global growth and commodity prices among others.
