The U.S-Africa Business Summit is organized by the Corporate Council on Africa, the leading business association focused solely on promoting trade and investment between the U.S and countries in Africa. This 14^th Summit was held in Morocco under the high patronage of King Mohammed VI of Morocco. Attended by 2000+ attendees, the Summit is the largest gathering of US and Africa public and private sector delegates specifically focused on increasing trade and investment between the two regions. The Summit was attended by His Excellency Mokgweetsi Masisi, President of the Republic of Botswana and senior government officials from 23 African countries. The U.S Government Delegation was led by Alice Albright the CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and included representation from multiple U.S Government agencies including, Prosper Africa, DFC, USAID, USTDA, EXIM, USADF, Department of Commerce and State Department.

 DLA Piper Attendance Goals

The key goals of this trip included:

• Introducing and strengthening the DLA Piper brand with existing and potential clients,
• Raise the profile of DLA Piper (particularly with respect to our ability to handle US/Africa business)
• Network with key business executives from US nationals who will be present as well as Africa-based executives seeking access to US capital; and
• Building stronger relationships with our DLA Piper Africa colleagues in Morocco as a precursor to joint mandate opportunities and help us better utilize our Africa platform.

 DLA Piper Attendees

U.S Delegation: Naana Frimpong, Akaego Okoye, David Mendelsohn, Danny Tobey

Morocco Delegation: Christophe Bachelet, Kamil Bennis

DLA Piper Africa Attendees

Senegal Delegation: Soraya Imani

Associate,Geni & Kebe (DLA Piper Africa, Senegal)

 DLA Piper Sponsorship

DLA Piper a member of the Council was also a sponsor of the Summit. We sponsored the business lounge and also had a private meeting room in the same space. This gave us high visibility at the Summit and we offered our clients use of the meeting room. This was well received and utilized.

Session Participation

Naana Frimpong moderated a women’s panel focused on Sustainable Growth through harnessing the potential of the Women and Youth sectors. Some of the panelists included representatives from NBA Africa, Coca Cola, AFDB and Casablanca Finance City Authority.

 Danny Tobey moderated the Health Ministerial. A closed-door session with both public and private sector leaders in the health care space. Some attendees included: Botswana Minister of health, senior executives from Pfizer, J&J, Abbott, USP, Gilead Sciences and more.

Akaego Okoye moderated a roundtable – A connected Atlantic coastline to improve Africa’s integration into global value chains.  Panelists included Africa50, Ithmar Capital and the Government of Morocco.

Overview of Key Meetings held

We held a number of meetings on the sidelines of the Summit. Some of the organizations we met include: Axxess, Trade and Development Bank (TDB), Gilead Sciences, U.S Africa Development Foundation (USADF), CITI, JnJ, Pfizer, Amazon, U.S State Department and the Government of Botswana.