The much anticipated fifth edition of the Africa CEO Forum went down on Monday at Geneva, Switzerland and the event saw over 1,000 individuals and key decision makers in industry, finance, and politics from all over Africa converged to enjoy an atmosphere that was specifically created to promote thought-provoking discussions.

The platform given by the Africa CEO Forum allows, along with the discussions, a space for finding unique opportunities for business development and refining of strategies to improve the quality of African businesses.

Among the revolving door of great panelists were two African Presidents, President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana and President Macky Sall of Senegal. The programme also featured presentation of awards to industry leaders in Africa.

Business leaders are often not incredibly well-known but these recipients of the Africa CEO Forum awards should be;

Mohammed Dewji, Group CEO of Mohammed Entreprise Tanzania Limited (MeTL)

Mohammed Dewji was named the CEO of the year an extra accolade that fits right in with his status as Tanzania’s wealthiest man and newly crowned richest man in East Africa with a net worth of $1.4 Billion, according to Forbes’ World list of billionaires.

The former politician who served as a Member of Tanzania’s Parliament from 2005 – 2015 for his home town of Singida is the president and CEO of MeTL Group, a Tanzanian conglomerate founded by his father in the 1970s. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Dewji thanked John Magufuli, Tanzania’s President for his relentless fight against corruption.

Anta Babacar Ngom Bathily, Executive Director of Sedima

Anta Babacar Ngom Bathily was awarded the ‘Young CEO of the Year’. Ms. Bathily runs Senegal’s leading agribusiness group, Sedima. She won the award which was created just last year to recognise promising young African business leaders under the age of 45 and dedicated her award to “all women and young women.”

The Africa CEO Forum also Awarded Leading Businesses;

The award for African Bank of the Year went to Morocco’s leading Attijariwafa Bank which is considered Africa’s fourth largest bank with over 7 million clients and more than 16,000 employees in 24 countries.

This year’s International Corporation of the Year Award produced joint winners in German insurer Allianz and Portuguese company Mota-Engil. The African Company of the Year award, given to the African company that demonstrated a remarkable expansion on the continent in 2016, went to Egypt-based Elsewedy Electric.