DAVOS 2020 – WHY THE WORLD IS LESS COOL THIS YEAR. 



By Chris Bishop



Next week world leaders will meet at one of the coldest
spots on earth to discuss this divided planet’s burning issues that threaten
its very survival.



For years, the World’s Davos gathering has been around
issues of globalisation, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and artificial
intelligence. It is 50 years since the free market optimist Klaus Schwab
launched the gathering, in the Swiss ski village, aimed at bringing the world’s
economies closers.



The wags used to paint it as the great, good and the
powerful linking arms to sing: ‘We are the World.’ This year, the song of Davos
could be closer to a Bob Marley’s So Much Trouble in the World on the aptly
named album Survival.



As raging fires lay waste vast tracts of Australia – the
word is they won’t be doused until March – the World Economic Forum says the greatest
risk, in its 10 year outlook, is extreme weather destroying property and taking
life, followed closely by the failure to tackle climate change. Both lurk
beneath the glow of Australia’s ruinous bush fires.&nbsp; &nbsp;



The other greatest risks, according to 750 global experts
polled by WEF, are: environmental crime and mistakes, like radiation leaks and
oil spills; followed closely by the destruction of natural resources, tsunamis
earthquakes and geomagnetic storms. 



“The political landscape is polarised, sea levels are rising
and climate fires are burning. This is the year when world leaders must work
with all sectors of society to repair and reinvigorate our systems of
cooperation, not just for short-term benefit but for tackling our deep-rooted
risks,” said Borge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum. 



This is the second year running that that climate and
environment concerns top the list; one reason why issues like climate change
are shooting up news agenda in newsrooms around the world and causing companies
worldwide to rethink their investments. 



Aside from the fury of the elements, 2020 threatens to be a
dangerous and depressed year all round.



“The report forecasts a year of increased domestic and
international divisions and economic slowdown. Geopolitical turbulence is
propelling us towards an “unsettled” unilateral world of great power rivalries
at a time when business and government leaders must focus urgently on working
together to tackle shared risks’,” says the report.



The leaders of the South African delegation to Davos meet at
a plush hotel in Rosebank, Johannesburg, to set out their stall for yet another
pitch to the world for investors as the economy stalls with growth expected to
be less than one per cent this year.



As usual, the South Africans will be looking largely for
investors in heavy industry, tech and mining. Maybe the country – on of the
biggest polluters in Africa &#8211; should be looking to attract investment into
renewable energy to help avert climate change before the elements eat it for
breakfast. &nbsp;&nbsp;

These are the world’s greatest risks

Road to Davos – West Africa: Stakeholder capitalism in Africa

By: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/silvia-amaro/">Silvia Amaro</a> <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/@Silvia_Amaro" target="_blank">@SILVIA_AMARO</a> 



 KEY POINTS



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>This year marks the 50th anniversary of the event in the Swiss Alps and its theme is “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World.”</li><li>The annual economic gathering will run from January 21 until January 24.</li></ul>



Business leaders and politicians from around the world are gearing up to attend another session of the World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland next week.



This year marks the 50th&nbsp;anniversary of the event in the Swiss Alps and its theme is “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World.” The annual economic gathering will run from January 21 until January 24.



CNBC takes a look at some of the most prominent names attending this year’s event.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Sanna Marin, prime minister of Finland</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106335554-1579006759563gettyimages-1192801006.jpeg?v=1579006821&amp;w=678&amp;h=381" alt="GS - FINLAND Prime Minister"/><figcaption> Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin listens during a press conference with her Estonian counterpart as part of her visit to the Etonian capital Tallinn on January 10, 2020.RAIGO PAJULA </figcaption></figure>



At 34, Sanna Marin is the world’s youngest serving prime minister as well as Finland’s third female leader. She heads a four-party coalition government, whose leaders are all women too.



At the time of her appointment, in December, she said she never thought about her age or gender. “I think of the reasons I got into politics, and those things for which we have won the trust of the electorate,” she said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106292391-1576147892376gettyimages-1186536349.jpeg?v=1576147931&amp;w=678&amp;h=381" alt="GP: Ursula von der Leyen Press Conference"/><figcaption> Thierry Monasse | picture alliance | Getty Images </figcaption></figure>



The former German minister for defense became the head of the EU’s executive arm in December. The new president of the European Commission has many pressing subjects to deal with, including gathering support for her new climate change package. The European Green Deal, a proposal launched in December, aims to make all the EU countries climate neutral by 2050.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Christine Lagarde, ECB president</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106013048-1562823040202gettyimages-1149676900.jpeg?v=1562823073&amp;w=678&amp;h=381" alt="GS - christine Lagarde"/><figcaption> International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing Director Christine Lagarde smiles during a press conference. JOHN THYS | AFP | Getty Images </figcaption></figure>



The newly-appointed head of the European Central Bank is a well-known figure at WEF. Lagarde, the first female president of the ECB, used to visit the event in her role as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.



This time around her words in Davos will be even more closely monitored, as investors look for further clues about the central bank’s strategic review. Lagarde made headlines in late 2019 when stating she wanted the ECB to make climate change a priority.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Greta Thunberg, climate activist</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106003629-1577720022147preview.jpg?v=1577720067&amp;w=678&amp;h=381" alt="GP: Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Joins Green Party Leader Lucas At An Event 190705 EU"/><figcaption> Greta Thunberg speaks at an event with other climate activists on April 22, 2019 in London, England. Chris J Ratcliffe | Getty Images News | Getty Images </figcaption></figure>



The 17-year old Swedish climate activist is due to return to Davos this year. Time’s “Person of the Year” in 2019 has a clear message to lawmakers and business leaders: commit to divest from fossil fuels now.



“We demand that at this year’s forum, participants from all companies, banks, institutions and governments immediately halt all investments in fossil fuel exploration and extraction, immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies and immediately and completely divest from fossil fuels. We don’t want these things done by 2050, 2030 or even 2021, we want this done now — as in right now,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/10/greta-thunberg-davos-tycoons-fossil-fuels-dismantle-climate-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Greta wrote</a>&nbsp;in The Guardian newspaper.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Ren Zhengfei, Huawei Technologies founder</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/105976517-1560942793576photo-sep-28-1-59-21-pm.jpg?v=1560942891&amp;w=678&amp;h=381" alt="CNBC: Huawei Ren Zhengfei 1"/><figcaption> Ren Zhengfei, CEO of Huawei speaking with CNBC at Huawei headquaters in Shenzhen, China. Justin Solomon | CNBC </figcaption></figure>



Technology has always been a key point of discussion at Davos and this year won’t be any exception, with 5G technology being a crucial part of the debate.



Huawei has led the 5G race across the world, but at the same time it sparked some division between traditional allies, such as the United States and the European Union. U.S. authorities have raised concerns about Huawei’s connections to the Chinese government, which it denies, and took steps to bar the company from selling its technology in the U.S. market. Meanwhile, the European Union is still forming its collective answer to the issues, but the German government announced it does not want to outright block the Chinese firm.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106170216-1570545937874gettyimages-1174489296.jpeg?v=1570545971&amp;w=678&amp;h=381" alt="GP: IMF-WORLD-ECONOMY-GROWTH-TRADE-DISPUTE"/><figcaption> International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva delivers her curtain raiser speech previewing the key issues to be addressed in the Annual Meetings in Washington, DC, on October 8, 2019. NICHOLAS KAMM | AFP | Getty Images </figcaption></figure>



The Bulgarian national was appointed head of the International Monetary Fund in the fall of 2019. She will be presenting the IMF’s latest economic assessment in Davos, joined by Gita Gopinath, the institution’s chief economist.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Deepika Padukone, Bollywood star</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106335607-1579007343030gettyimages-1187546842.jpeg?v=1579007423&amp;w=678&amp;h=381" alt="GS - Deepika Padukone"/><figcaption> Indian actress Deepika Padukone arrives for a trailer launch of her upcoming Bollywood movie ‘Chhapaak’ in Mumbai, India on 10 December 2019. NurPhoto </figcaption></figure>



She is an internationally-acclaimed actress and mental health ambassador. Padukone will be awarded with one of the WEF’s Crystal Awards.



She was recently pictured standing silently behind students protesting against the Indian government. The Bollywood star surprised many, given that members of the movie industry tend to avoid politics.



Deepika has been named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Steven Mnuchin, US Treasury Secretary</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/104967284-RTX4JURE.jpg?v=1529452423&amp;w=678&amp;h=381" alt="RT: WEF Davos 2018: Steven Mnuchin 180125"/><figcaption> Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, gestures as he attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland January 25, 2018. Denis Balibouse | Reuters </figcaption></figure>



U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin led the discussion in Davos in 2017, having said at a news conference that a weaker dollar was good for the United States. His comments represented a shift in U.S. policy and sparked a dollar sell-off.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/105493712-1539007277626gettyimages-151703283.jpeg?v=1539007302&amp;w=678&amp;h=381" alt="George Soros Speaks About The Euro"/><figcaption> Billionaire investor George Soros. Sean Gallup | Getty Images </figcaption></figure>



The billionaire investor George Soros is a familiar face in the Swiss Alps. In the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/george-soros-us-and-china-are-in-cold-war-that-threatens-to-turn-into-a-hot-one.html">last edition</a>, Soros expressed his concerns over President Donald Trump’s foreign and economic policy.



“An effective policy towards China can’t be reduced to a slogan. It needs to be far more sophisticated, detailed and practical; and it must include an American economic response to the Belt and Road Initiative,” he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Donald Trump, US president</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106331207-1578687282899gettyimages-1192765367.jpeg?v=1578687318&amp;w=678&amp;h=381" alt="GP: Donald Trump rally Toledo Ohio US-POLITICS-TRUMP"/><figcaption> US President Donald Trump speaks during a “Keep America Great” campaign rally at Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio, on January 9, 2020. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images </figcaption></figure>



U.S. President Donald Trump is set to attend this year’s WEF. Trump cancelled his participation at the event in 2019, amid a row with the Democratic Party over security spending.

Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Here’s who’s going to Davos this year

<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>By WEF </li><li>According to the current trajectory for closing the gender gap across politics, economics, health and education, the overall global gender gap will close in 99.5 years </li><li>Improvement in political representation helped narrow the overall global gender gap, even though prospects for economic opportunity have worsened in the past 12 months</li><li>Iceland remains the world’s most gender-equal country, followed by Norway, Finland, Sweden and Nicaragua</li><li>Discover the full report, infographics and more information <a href="https://wef.ch/gggr20">here</a></li></ul>



Geneva, Switzerland, 17 December 2019 – The time it will take to
close the gender gap narrowed to 99.5 years in 2019. While an improvement on
2018 – when the gap was calculated to take 108 years to close – it still means
parity between men and women across health, education, work and politics will take
more than a lifetime to achieve. This is the finding of the World Economic
Forum’s <a href="https://wef.ch/gggr20">Global Gender Gap Report 2020,</a> published today. 



According to the report, this year’s improvement can largely be ascribed
to a significant increase in the number of women in politics. The political
gender gap will take 95 years to close, compared to 107 years last year. Worldwide
in 2019, women now hold 25.2% of parliamentary lower-house seats and 21.2% of
ministerial positions, compared to 24.1% and 19% respectively last year.&nbsp; 



Politics, however, remains the area where least progress has been made
to date. With Educational Attainment and Health and Survival much closer to
parity on 96.1% and 95.7% respectively, the other major battlefield is economic
participation. Here, the gap widened in 2019 from 58.1% in 2018 to 57.8%. Looking
simply at the progress that has been made since 2006 when the World Economic
Forum first began measuring the gender gap, this economic gender gap will take
257 years to close, compared to 202 years last year.&nbsp; 



Economic Gap Widening



The report attributes the economic gender gap to a number of factors. These
include stubbornly low levels of women in managerial or leadership positions,
wage stagnation, labour force participation and income. Women have been hit by
a triple whammy: first, they are more highly represented in many of the roles
that have been hit hardest by automation, for example, retail and white-collar
clerical roles. 



Second, not enough women are entering those professions – often but not
exclusively technology-driven – where wage growth has been the most pronounced.
As a result, women in work too often find themselves in middle-low wage
categories that have been stagnant since the financial crisis 10 years ago.



Third, perennial factors such as lack of care infrastructure and lack of
access to capital strongly limit women’s workforce opportunities. Women spend
at least twice as much time on care and voluntary work in every country where
data is available, and lack of access to capital prevents women from pursuing
entrepreneurial activity, another key driver of income. 



“Supporting gender parity is critical to
ensuring strong, cohesive and resilient societies around the world. For
business, too, diversity will be an essential element to demonstrate that
stakeholder capitalism is the guiding principle. This is why the World Economic
Forum is working with business and government stakeholders to accelerate
efforts to close the gender gap,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of
the World Economic Forum.



Could the “Role Model
Effect” close the gender gap?



One positive development is the possibility that a “role model effect”
may be starting to have an impact in terms of leadership and possibly also
wages. For example, in eight of the top 10 countries this year, high political
empowerment corresponds with high numbers of women in senior roles. Comparing
changes in political empowerment from 2006 to 2019 shows that improvements in
political representation occurred simultaneously with improvements in women in
senior roles in the labour market.



While this is a correlation, not a causation, in OECD countries, where
women have been in leadership roles for relatively longer and social norms
started to change earlier, role model effects could contribute to shaping
labour market outcomes. 



Gender Inequality in
the Jobs of the Future



Possibly the greatest challenge preventing the economic gender gap from
closing is women’s under-representation in emerging roles. New analysis conducted in partnership with
LinkedIn shows that women are, on average, heavily under-represented in most
emerging professions. This gap is most pronounced across our “cloud computing” job
cluster where only 12% of all professionals are women. The situation is hardly
better in “engineering” (15%) and “Data and AI” (26%), however women do
outnumber men in two fast-growing job clusters, “content production” and
“people and culture”.



According to our
data, this reality presents leaders intent on addressing the gender gap in the
future with two key challenges. The first and most obvious challenge is that
more must be done to equip women with the skills to perform the most in-demand
jobs. Indeed, there is an economic cost of not doing so as skills shortages in these
professions hold back economic growth. 



The second is
possibly more complex. According to our data, even where women have the relevant
in-demand skillset they are not always equally represented. In data science,
for example, 31% of those with the relevant skillset are women even though only
25% of roles are held by women. Likewise, there is no gender gap in terms of
skills when it comes to digital specialists, however only 41% of these jobs are
performed by women. 



These facts point
to three key strategies that must be followed to hardwire gender equality into
future workforces: to ensure women are equipped in the first place – either
through skilling or reskilling – with disruptive technical skills; to follow-up
by enhancing diverse hiring; and to create inclusive work cultures. 



“Insights from
LinkedIn’s Economic Graph can help policymakers, business leaders, and
educators understand and prepare for how women will be represented in the
future workforce. Our data shows that meaningful action is needed to build the
systems and talent pipelines required to close the gender gap in tech and
ensure women have an equal role in building the future,” said Allen Blue,
Co-Founder and Vice-President, Product Strategy, LinkedIn.



What the Forum is
Doing to Close the Gender Gap



The World Economic Forum’s Platform for Shaping the Future of the New
Economy and Society aims to close economic gender gaps through both in-country
and global industry work. Through Closing the Gender Gap Accelerators, the
Forum drives change by setting up action coalitions between relevant ministries
and the largest employers in the country to increase female labour force
participation, the number of women in leadership positions, closing wage gaps
and preparing women for jobs of the future. Additionally, the global business
commitment on Hardwiring Gender Parity in the Future of Work mobilizes
businesses to commit to hiring 50% women for their five highest growth roles
between now and 2022. Finally, the Forum has committed to at least double the
current percentage of women participants at the Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters,
Switzerland, by 2030. 



“To get to parity in the next decade instead of the next two centuries,
we will need to mobilize resources, focus leadership attention and commit to
targets across the public and private sectors. Business-as-usual will not close
the gender gap – we must take action to achieve the virtuous cycle that parity
creates in economies and societies,” said Saadia Zahidi, Head of the Centre for
the New Economy and Society and Member of the Managing Board, World Economic
Forum.



The Global Gender
Gap in 2020 



Nordic countries continue to lead the way to
gender parity. Iceland (87.7%) remains the
world’s most gender-equal country, followed by Norway (2nd, 84.2%), Finland (3rd,
83.2%) and Sweden (4th, 82.0%). Other economies in the top 10 include Nicaragua
(5th, 80.4%), New Zealand (6th, 79.9%), Ireland (7th, 79.8%), Spain (8th, 79.5%),
Rwanda (9th, 79.1%) and Germany (10th, 78.7%). 



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Among the countries that improve the most this
year are Spain in Western Europe, Ethiopia in Africa, Mexico in Latin America,
and Georgia in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. These countries all improved
their positions in the ranking by more than 20 places, largely driven by improvements
in the political empowerment dimension.



Western Europe is the best
performing region for the 14th consecutive year. With an average
score of 76.7% (out of 100), the region has now closed 77% of its gender gap,
further improving from last edition. At the current pace, it will take 54 years
to close the gap in Western Europe. The region is home to the four most
gender-equal countries in the world, namely in order Iceland (87.7%), Norway
(84.2%) and Finland (83.2%) and Sweden (82.0%), and one country (Spain, 8th)
is among the most improved countries this year. 



The North America region
regroups the United States (72.4%, 53rd) and Canada (77.2%, 19th). Both
countries’ performances are stalling, especially in terms of economic
participation and opportunity. At this rate it will take 151 years to close the
gap.



The Eastern Europe and Central Asia
region has closed 71.5% of its gender gap so far with a slight improvement
since last year. To date the time to fully close its overall gender gap is
estimated to be 107 years. The region has fully closed its educational gap and
has improved women’s political empowerment which however remains only closed at
15%. 21 of the 26 countries in this region have closed at least 70% and the
top-ranked country, Latvia, 11th has closed 78.5% of its gap.



The Latin
America and the Caribbean region has closed 72.1% of its gender gap so far,
progressing 1 percentage points since last year. At this rate it will take 59
years to close the gender gap. The most noticeable improvement is on the
Political empowerment dimension where the region closes its gap by 5 percentage
points. Led my Nicaragua that has closed 80.4% of its gap (5th), 15
of the 24 countries covered by the report have improved their overall scores.
Among the most improved countries, Mexico reduced its gender gap by 3.4 points
on a year-over-year basis.&nbsp; 



The Sub-Saharan
Africa region has closed 68.0% of its gender gap so far. This result is a
significant progress since last edition which leads to revise down the number
of years it will take to close the gender gap, which is now estimated at 95
years. The region is home of one of the top-ten countries overall Rwanda (9th)
while another 21 countries have improved their performances since last year,
including Ethiopia (82nd) one of the best improved this year
globally.&nbsp; 



The East Asia and Pacific Region has
closed 69% of the overall gender gap. If the region maintains the same rate of
improvement as the 2006-2019 period, and given the current gap, it will take
another 163 years to close the gender gap, the most time of any region. The
region has improved on three of the four gender gap dimensions and has been the
only region where political empowerment gap has widened (16% closed so far).
The best performing country is New Zealand&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 6th,
which has closed 79.9% of its gap. It is followed by the Philippines 16th
with 78.1% closed and Lao PDR, 43rd with a score of 73.1%.



South Asia region has closed two thirds of its gender gap. The
region’s gender gap is the second largest despite a progress of 6 points over
the past 14 years. If the rate of progress of the past 15 years was to continue
it will take 71 years to close the region’s gender gap. However, in contrast
with the overall’s performance, the region’s Economic participation and
opportunity gap widens this year. Bangladesh (50th) leads the
region, while the second ranked country, Nepal, lags several positions behind
(101th) 



The Middle East
and North Africa (MENA) region obtains the lowest score (61.1%) despite
having narrowed its gap by 0.5 points since last year. Assuming the same rate
of progress going forward it will take approximately 150 years to close the
gender gap in the MENA region. The two most highly ranked countries in the
region are Israel&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (64th)
with a closed gap to date of 71.8% and the United Arab Emirates (120th)
with a score of 65.5%. 15 of the 19 countries in this region rank 130th
or lower.



Platform
for Shaping the Future of the New Economy and Society 



The Global Gender Gap Report is a flagship publication of the World
Economic Forum’s Platform for Shaping the Future of the New Economy and
Society. The Platform provides the opportunity to advancing prosperous,
inclusive and equitable economies and societies. It focuses on co-creating a
new vision in three interconnected areas: growth and competitiveness;
education, skills and work; and equality and inclusion. Working together,
stakeholders deepen their understanding of complex issues, shape new models and
standards and drive scalable, collaborative action for systemic change. 



Over 100 of the world’s leading
companies and 100 international, civil society and academic organizations
currently work through the Platform to promote new approaches to
competitiveness in the Fourth Industrial Revolution economy; deploy education
and skills for tomorrow’s workforce; build a new pro-worker and pro-business
agenda for jobs; and integrate equality and inclusion into the new economy,
aiming to reach 1 billion people with improved economic opportunities.

gender

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World Economic Forum: Delivering the promise of Africa’s youth

World Economic Forum: 100 days of Cyril Ramaphosa

It was a <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wef/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="World Economic Forum (WEF) (opens in a new tab)">World Economic Forum </a><a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wef/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="World Economic Forum (WEF) (opens in a new tab)">(WEF)</a> on Africa like no another as thousands of delegates from around the world descended on Cape Town, South Africa from the 4th-6th September. &nbsp;They were there to <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2019/09/05/how-to-garner-a-large-slice-of-africas-overcrowded-telecoms-market/">strike deals</a>, see what the <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2019/09/05/standard-chartered-banks-saif-malik-on-the-digital-era-of-banking-in-africa/">best of Africa had to offer</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/uncategorized/2019/09/10/wef-africa-debate-africas-economic-update/">how its economies are performing</a>. For example, <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2019/09/09/zimbabwe-is-working-on-currency-challenges-mnangagwa/">Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa</a>, <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2019/09/04/masisi-khama-is-not-botswana-and-neither-is-masisi/">Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi</a>, <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/uncategorized/2019/09/06/the-good-the-bad-and-ugly-zimbabwes-founding-father/">Namibia’s President Hage Geingob</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2019/09/04/finmin-mthuli-ncube-on-the-investment-case-for-zimbabwe/">Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube</a> went into detail during their interviews with CNBC Africa at the World Economic Forum Africa on how their Southern African counties are open for business.





The delegates were also there to discuss and
devise polices on “<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/uncategorized/2019/09/12/why-siemens-believes-east-africa-is-an-investment-hotspot/">Shaping
Inclusive Growth</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/uncategorized/2019/09/10/visa-breakfast-panel-the-impact-of-4ir-on-the-state-of-female-entrepreneurship/">Shared
Futures in the Fourth Industrial Revolution</a>”, a subject both South Africa’s
<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2019/09/02/shaping-inclusive-growth-and-shared-futures-in-4ir-wef-africa-holds-media-briefing-ahead-of-wef-2019/">Finance
Minister Tito Mboweni</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2019/09/04/emir-sanusi-on-how-can-africa-achieve-inclusive-growth/">Nigeria’s
Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II</a> where particularly passionate about. 



But while inside the Cape Town
International Convention Centre (CITCC) things were cordial it was outside the
CITCC where the real action was happening. 



<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2019/09/04/sa-women-protest-against-gbv-at-wefafrica19/">Hundreds
of protesters gathered</a> against gender-based violence, and members of the
Nigerian delegation departed on the first day of WEF Africa in protest against
the xenophobic violence that rocked the country. &nbsp;Even South Africa’s <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/uncategorized/2019/09/05/sa-president-addresses-gbv-afrophobic-violence/">President
Cyril Ramaphosa had to take time out of his busy schedule</a> at WEF Africa to
address the continent and investors on these matters. 





Delegates at the event spoke out strongly against
Afrophobia during their interviews with CNBC Africa, such as: 



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li><a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2019/09/04/anglogold-ashantis-sipho-pityana-on-how-sa-is-dealing-with-xenophobic-attacks/">AngloGold Ashanti’s Sipho Pityana on how SA is dealing with xenophobic attacks</a></li><li>South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2019/09/05/sa-embassy-shut-in-nigeria-buhari-still-to-visit/">SA embassy shut in Nigeria – Buhari still to visit</a></li><li>The African Union Commission’s <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2019/09/04/albert-muchanga-on-how-mutual-tolerance-is-key-in-trade-xenophobia-africas-shared-future/">&nbsp;Albert Muchanga: on how mutual tolerance is key in trade, xenophobia &amp; Africa’s shared future</a>.</li></ul>



On the final day WEF Africa was also marked
by the passing of an African villain and liberator, Zimbabwe’s former President
Robert Mugabe, both inside and outside the CITCC people remembered him. 



Such as:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/uncategorized/2019/09/06/namibian-president-geingob-on-the-good-the-bad-and-ugly-zimbabwes-founding-father/">Namibian
president Geingob on the good, the bad and ugly: Zimbabwe’s founding father</a></li><li><a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2019/09/06/zanu-pf-spokesperson-mandaza-reflects-on-mugabes-contribution-to-zimbabwes-liberation-struggle/">Zanu-PF
Spokesperson Mandaza reflects on Mugabe’s contribution to Zimbabwe’s liberation
struggle</a></li><li><a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2019/09/06/tiamiyou-radji-on-mugabe-the-fight-he-fought-has-yielded-freedom-for-us/">Tiamiyou
Radji on Mugabe: “The fight he fought has yielded freedom for us”</a></li></ul>

Missed the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa 2019? Here are all the highlights

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One in three people in Africa is affected by water scarcity, but one company plans to change this by producing rain. A service it is already offering to Jordan. Dr Helmut Fluhrer of Weathertec explains how.

World Economic Forum: How Weathertec plans to create rain for Africa

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Who would have thought one day that farmers in Brazil could control the immigration of their crops against the other side of the Atlantic Ocean? In Angola with the help of an undersea cable that is what is happening. Yet 7 per cent of the people in the country have access to the internet what does the future hold? António Nunes, Chief Executive Officer of Angola Cables spoke to CNBC Africa for more.

World Economic Forum: How undersea cables are changing the face of African farming

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CNBC Africa spoke with Dr Terence Sibiya, Managing Executive of Rest of Africa at Nedbank about the ways in which Africa needs to implement and execute the plans that have been put in place to boost investor confidence.

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World Economic Forum: How Weathertec plans to create rain for Africa

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World Economic Forum

These are the world’s greatest risks

Road to Davos – West Africa: Stakeholder capitalism in Africa

Here’s who’s going to Davos this year

It will take a 100 years for gender parity, Africa fares better but not by much

World Economic Forum: The New Era of Banking in South Africa

Seacom looks inland in internet infrastructure expansion across Africa

World Economic Forum: Bestselling author Robert Kiyosaki shares his lessons on investing, financial education

World Economic Forum: Regional Strategy: Infrastructure

World Economic Forum: In conversation with Dr Bernie Fanaroff on the Square Kilometre Array

World Economic Forum: Africa: Rising Continent in a Fractured World

World Economic Forum: Unlocking Digital Technologies

World Economic Forum: Delivering the promise of Africa’s youth

World Economic Forum: 100 days of Cyril Ramaphosa

Missed the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa 2019? Here are all the highlights

World Economic Forum: How Weathertec plans to create rain for Africa

World Economic Forum: How undersea cables are changing the face of African farming

World Economic Forum: Nedbank’s Terence Sibiya on addressing Africa’s growth challenges

News Tips

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