Seek African solutions to develop continent - Jospong Executive Chairman tells African leaders
The Executive Chairman of Jospong Group, Joseph Siaw Agyepong, has urged African leaders to find African solutions for the continent’s development instead of depending on other regions.
He said Africa had the answers to its own problems and called on leaders to unite and drive national growth.
Speaking at the opening of the Africa Forward Summit at the University of Nairobi in Nairobi, Kenya, last Monday, Mr Agyepong rejected what he described as a mindset that kept Africans struggling to access capital markets under restrictive conditions.
“Why should Africa export her problems when she can build industries to solve them?
Why does Africa not have access to capital markets without tough conditions and restrictions?
And why has Africa not yet fully utilised and harnessed the wealth of natural resources and human capital available to her?” he asked, presenting the three questions that had guided every decision he had made.
The two-day summit co-hosted by Kenya’s President, William Ruto, and France’s President, Emmanuel Macron, marked the first Africa-France summit co-chaired with an English-speaking African nation.
The gathering, on the theme: “To Build Together”, included seven thematic pillars ranging from energy transition and AI to blue economy and reform of the international financial architecture.
$3 capital
Mr Agyepong revealed his humble beginnings, growing up with 16 siblings, selling goods at lorry stations and doing whatever he could to survive.
“My initial capital of $3 from my mother as an investment launched me into the world of entrepreneurship, birthing resilience and enthusiasm,” he said.
From those footsteps, he told the audience, the Jospong Group had grown into a conglomerate with dozens of subsidiaries across Africa, operating in 29 countries.
Waste unmined resource
Addressing the summit’s focus on financial growth through entrepreneurship in waste management, he said each person generated about 0.6 kilogrammes of waste every day.
Mr Agyepong stated that 20 years ago in Ghana, Accra faced serious flooding and sanitation challenges as waste clogged drains and created public health risks.
That crisis, he indicated, led to the development of a concept built on one key principle — sustainable financing for waste management.
Currently, the group provides solutions in wastewater treatment, solid waste management, hazardous waste and medical waste.
The Executive Chairman said Africa generated millions of tonnes of waste every year, yet only about four per cent was recycled.
“That is not just a statistic. It represents opportunity. It represents jobs, industries and value waiting to be unlocked,” he said.
He used the platform to urge Africa’s youth to seize the continent’s vast opportunities and make their mark, noting that Africa was richly endowed with mineral resources.
Sports economy
President Ruto said Kenya had positioned sports as a pillar of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, stressing that Africa’s youth population of over one billion under 35 is a historic opportunity to build a dynamic sports economy.
He outlined Kenya’s plans ahead of AFCON 2027 under the Pamoja partnership with Uganda and Tanzania, including Talanta Sports City, upgrades to Kasarani and Nyayo stadia, and 27 new stadia nationwide designed as full ecosystems with ICT hubs, film studios and creative spaces.
President Macron, who opened the summit, announced a €23 billion ($27 billion) investment for Africa to secure the continent’s future.
Also present at the summit were the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, nearly 30 CEOs from Africa and France, tech and innovation leaders and some 400 youth delegates whose voices were integrated into the final declaration.
