Africa’s Green Economy Summit will return to the Western Cape from 21-23 February 2024, with Sanlam Investments coming on board as the host event organiser.
Building on the success of the inaugural event held in Cape Town in February 2023, the 2024 event will once again connect the global investment community with investment prospects in Africa’s green economy space.
As the continent’s governments develop strategies to adapt their economies and growth models in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals of 2030 and the Paris Climate Change Agreement, there has been a massive growth opportunity for projects in the green economy. The summit brings the global investor community, project owners and business executives together with African governments, cities, and policymakers to pave the way for an inclusive green economy and a sustainable future.
Sanlam Investments is one of South Africa’s largest black-owned asset management firms, managing assets of around R700-billion. The company’s purpose has evolved beyond wealth creation; it is committed to investing for the long-term sustainability of people and planet.
Carl Roothman, CEO of Sanlam Investment Group, says: “At Sanlam Investments, we are working to build a sustainable green economy that will help drive Africa’s climate change journey and offer growth potential for economies across the continent. We are proud to sponsor this summit, a seminal gathering of the local and global investment community. We have no doubt that the discussions had, and opportunities presented, will be invaluable but – more importantly – that they will result in actionable outcomes that will allow us to work together to harness Africa’s potential in this space.”
He said that, as a firm driven to make an impact, the overarching goal with all of Sanlam Investments’ initiatives is to better the lives of its clients and the broader communities in which they operate.
By joining forces, Sanlam Investments and Africa’s Green Economy Summit aim to enhance the impact impetus and contribute to a broader vision of a sustainable and inclusive future for all South Africans.
“We are thrilled to welcome Sanlam Investments on board as title sponsor. As soon as our teams met, it was clear that our purpose, outlook, and culture were aligned,” said Vuka CEO David Ashdown.
“Our objective is to positively influence the development of an inclusive and just green economy across Africa in connecting global capital to African projects. With the support of Sanlam Investments as a partner, we take a huge step forward in our mission. Our teams are empowered and committed to achieving a better future for Africa. Welcome to the entire Sanlam team.”
The African Venture Capital Association, the South African Venture Capital Association, the Minerals Africa Development Institution and the South African Capital Equipment Export Council will also support the 2024 event. In addition, investment and trade promotion agency Wesgro has come on board as Investment Promotion Partner.
Africa’s Green Economy Summit is an official event of E-Fest Cape Town. The E-Fest is underpinned by the Cape Town E-Prix, which forms part of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. The race will be held for the second time in Cape Town, South Africa in February 2024.
Iain Banner, the chairman of Cape Town E-Prix race promoter e-Movement, said the summit aimed to become to the green economy what the Mining Indaba was to the mining sector.
“We are delighted to be staging the second edition of Africa’s Green Economy Summit from 21-23 February 2024. The inaugural event exceeded our expectations, and we are certain next year’s event will deliver on all of its objectives. Come and join us as we continue connecting global capital with African green economy opportunity,” said Banner.
NOTE: The AGES 2024 dates will remain provisional until FIA ratification of the 2024 Cape Town E-Prix date.
VUKA Group
Africa’s Green Economy Summit is organised in partnership with E-Movement and Bellcrescent Partners by VUKA Group, which has more than 20 years’ experience in serving the business community across Africa. Formerly known as Clarion Events Africa, a leading Cape Town-based and multi-award-winning organiser of exhibitions, conferences and digital events in the infrastructure, energy, mining, mobility, ecommerce and CX sectors, VUKA is an independent B-BBEE compliant company, adapted to the unique conditions of Africa. Other well-known events by VUKA Group include Enlit Africa, DRC Mining Week, Nigeria Mining Week, DRC-Africa Battery Metals Forum, Smarter Mobility Africa, ECOM and CEM Africa.
Author: Bridget Pringle
Granola Dove
So I\’m real good friends with this guy named Juan Ted. Now, Juan is a pretty unbelievable guy. He can steal ANYTHING he wants to. Literally anything. It could be the shirt off your back, the wallet in your pocket, or I\’m even sure he\’d find a way to steal your house (And your spouse too). So anyway, one day Juan and I are sitting around watching TV, and they announced that the hope diamond will not be on display anymore and is now getting moved to an undisclosed location. So as we hear this, Juan says \”I\’m gonna steal it\”. Now I know how good Juan is at this kind of stuff, so I just tell him good luck and he goes on his way. Eventually he narrows his search down to a small cave in South Africa. When Juan gets there, he doesn\’t see any guards or anything outside the cave, so he just walks in assuming he was wrong about where the diamond was. He wanders around for a while until he sees a long lit hallway with the hope diamond at the end of it. Confident in his abilities, he strolls over to the diamond and picks it up before realizing its a trap! Suddenly, red lights flashed, armed men came running out, sirens went off. You could hear one of the men say under his breath \”We finally caught Juan Ted.\” But Juan, being the best thief in the world, said \”Not quite. On the count of three, I will disappear.\” As the men looked around confused, Juan began to count. \”Uno. Dos.\” And he disappeared without a tres.
Freesia
A British man on safari walks into a bar far out in the reaches of a game reserve in Southern Africa, he stays at the bar for a while shooting the shit with the bartender and drinking like a fish, he offer to buy the barkeep a round and since no one else is within 2km of their small oasis of liquor the barkeep obliges. The englishman goes off to the bathroom to have a good old go at the porcelain, he\’s back and ready for a few more whiskeys. He\’s just sat down when suddenly in the distance he hears a scream. He looks over his shoulder and dismisses it as nothing, he turns to the barkeep and orders a drink, takes a sip and hears the scream again. He looks at the barkeep who just shrugs it off. A minute or two later he and the barman hear it again and go outside to take a look. They see a lone figure running towards them screaming, he spots them and lets out a cry, RUN!!!!! HE\”S COMING!!!!!
The barkeep and the Englishman both look at the terrified bedraggled sight before them, and try to calm him down, but he\’s completely inconsolable. They give him water and finally manage to get a word out of him but he struggles free from their grasp and run away screaming.
A few minutes later the same thing happens with a whole group of men running in and screaming, he\’s coming, he\’s coming the barkeep grabs hold of one of the men as he tries to sprint past the bar and tries to get information out of him, again no response other than terrified gibberish.
The barkeep and his customer are starting to get worried, they start to pack up before another group of horrified natives run up to the bar most of them flee but one tries to hide behind the bar, the barkeep pulls out a shotgun and points it at the terrified man\’s face, finally managing to coax some words out of him. \”He\’s coming for us, Vernon Koekemoer is coming for us, we have to hide!!! We have to get out of here.\” He gets up and tries to run but the barkeep grabs him, feeling trapped in a panic he grabs the barkeeps shotgun and blows his own head off. The Englishman and the barkeep look at each other starting to really panic now.
They look out of the window and off in the distance they see a tornado coming towards the bar, at the bottom of the tornado they see the hugest beast of a man they have ever seen, as he gets closer they spot that he is riding a rhinocerous and using a crocodile as a riding whip, with each smack of the crocodile across the back of the rhino the louder is screams and the faster it runs, the tornado following it getting ever larger.
The 2 look at each other and start to fortify their position, they\’ve got a gun and they\’re waaay to drunk to run, so they start piling bar stool and tables and anything they can get their hands on to make sure they\’ll be safe when he arrives. They\’re not gonna make it, they can see the man slowing down his rhino, by now the crocodile is nothing but reptile paste on the bruised rump of the half dead rhino, the rhino drops down dead from exhaustion and crashes to the ground right outside the bar the tornado loses it\’s last breath in a cloud of dust as the huge man crashes his way through the make shift barricade and charges up towards the bar where the 2 men have taken shelter, he grabs a bottle of the hardest liquor on the shelf and down the entire litre in 1 gulp, he peers over the bar sobbing and sees the 2 defenders cowering down behind the crates of beer, they look up at the mans\’ face and he stares at them with a look of complete and utter hopelessness, he stares at them for a half second and half screams, half sobs, \”Oh my god what are you still doing here!!! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!! Vernon Koekemoer is coming!!!!\”