5th edition of ‘Made in Africa Conference’ set to come off on June 14-15 in Accra

BCA Leadership, a pan-African leadership organization on a mission to transform Africa through leadership, will organise the 5th edition of its annual 'Made in Africa Conference' in Accra, Ghana, for the first time.

Since its beginning, the conference has been hosted in Kigali, Rwanda. The second and third editions were virtual, the fourth took place in Zambia last year, and the fifth will take place on June 14 and 15, 2023 in Accra, Ghana.

The conference, which is an annual inaugural gathering of African company owners and executives, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and their Direct Reports, Managing Directors (MDs), Board Executives and Public Sector Leaders. The 2023 edition will be held under the theme ‘Making Africa Work for Africans: Collaborations and Partnerships’.

The two-day hybrid (in-person and virtual) conference aims to inspire and support leadership development among African leaders, promote intra-Africa trade and collaboration, and boost productivity and production of goods and services in Africa.

This year’s MLC will be hosted in Ghana by Catherine Engmann, a Leading Chartered Governance Professional and Certified Coach; Doris Ahiati, a Chartered Banker and CEO of Crescendo Consult; Samuel Ayim, a Ghanaian Lawyer, Banker and CEO of the Centre for Transformational Leadership; Dr. Modupe S. Taylor-Pearce, Scholar and Practitioner of leadership and organizational management and Dr. Yaw Perbi, Global CEO of The HuD Group and Fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative.

Dr Modupe Taylor-Pearce, Chief Executive Officer of BCA Leadership, on commenting on the need for a learning conference such as MLC for African leaders said that now is the moment for African leaders to unify and fight for the greater welfare of the African continent.

“For far too long, Africans have waited for someone else to come and fix our continent. We have waited for the British, the French, the Germans, the Americans, or the Canadians, and lately for the Chinese. None of these groups are ever going to love our continent the way that we love our continent. African problems will be solved by African leaders collaborating with each other to devise solutions; the solutions to African problems are already in Africa,” he said.

He added: “MLC is a conference for civil service leaders and elected officials; for small business owners and corporate leaders; for community leaders and NGO leaders; because all of us share one thing: we are all people whose decisions impact the lives of others.

As leaders, our primary job is to make optimal decisions, and those decisions result in outcomes that are experienced by ourselves, our communities, our companies, and our countries. The quality of those decisions made today and this year will determine the future of Africa in the next 5 - 10 years. At MLC, leaders will gather to acquire the skills, networks, and knowledge to make better decisions.”

Target audience

The target audience of MLC are Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) or Managing Directors (MDs), C-Suite, African company owners and executives, Board Executives, Small Business Owners, and Leaders in public sector.

Modalities & logistics

Conference attendees will register to join the conference upon paying a registration fee. Flights are at the delegates’ costs. However, conference fee will cover meals, transportation and conference attendance for two days. The early bird ticket price for international delegates is US$499. It covers conference participation for two days, two nights hotel accommodation in Accra and industrial and recreational site visits. For Ghana-based participants who will not require accommodation, the early bird cost for participating in the conference is GH¢1,999.

Virtual participants can participate online at the cost of US$50.

Delegates can register at bcaleadership.com

Conference format

“Peer Learning Labs” is a 75-minute meeting with 12 – 18 delegates, facilitated by a BCA Coach, during which there is a guest speaker who “prompts” a topic with a 20-minute talk. After the talk, the delegates then ask the guest speaker questions and they also discuss among themselves about the topic.

The objective is to have delegates learn something new, primarily from their peers.

The learning lab starts with introductions, an ice-breaker, and then the talk, and then discussions, and then conclusions, with each delegate sharing what new thing they have learned or new perspective they have gained or old knowledge that they have reinforced. There will be ten learning labs during MLC.

There will be four room options for delegates, each room covering a different topic. Potential topics may be “Quality in the face of Adversity: Leadership Lessons”, “Leading to Let Go: Leadership Transitions”, “Trade and Collaboration in Africa”, “Transforming health service delivery in Africa”, “From CFO to CEO: Leadership Transitions & Transformations” and “Creating African/global footprints using the church's playbook”.

• Intended outcome of this session: to enhance leadership knowledge and facilitate the exchange of ideas.

“Peer-Based Problem-Solving & Industry Site Visits” is a half-day event which incorporates splitting Leaders into groups of 15 – 20 people, taking them to various “Ghanaian” business/factories (producing a product or a service), giving them a tour, and giving them a current problem/challenge that the company is facing that they can investigate, discuss, and proffer solutions to in a meeting with the CEO of the host company (and, if the CEO chooses, with other members of the host company).

The CEO of the host organization will welcome the delegates, introduce them to the company (site tour and introduction to management team), introduce them to the problem/challenge, and (depending on the specific nature of the problem) stay to discuss it with them or given them some time to discuss the problem among themselves and other members of the host company team before re-joining them to get some insight on the problem and possible solutions. By the end of the session, the CEO should have additional insight on the problem and garnered solution ideas to solve the problem or mitigate its effects.

• Intended outcome of this session: to facilitate & enhance critical leadership skills such as strategic thinking and innovation while solving African Problems by African Solution providers.

“Needs and Leads” is a facilitated round-table (or stand-up) session during which delegates, by turn, indicate a need that they have, and then other delegates who might have a lead to solve that need speak up and let the “need” delegate know that they have a lead. The delegate with the need notes the “lead” delegate and they will follow up after the session.

There would be 3 or 4 round tables with at most 25 persons per table. Each table will have one of the following themes where needs would be directed towards; Technology, Human Capital, Supply Chain & Financing. After 30 minutes, participants can change their tables to a second theme of their choice.

Intended outcome of this session: to spur collaboration and communication among African CEOs, which can lead to tremendous intra-trade business deals.