Investing in and collaborating with Africa

19 May 2016. Gent, Belgium. The Africa Platform of Ghent University Association organized its 3rd Network Event. This event brought together the profit and the non-profit sector, as well as the academic world and local experts from Africa. The idea was to discuss challenges and exchange best practices about investing in and collaborating with African partners.

The Africa Platform of Ghent University unites all Africa-related expertise at Ghent University Association, it distributes information on academic activities linked to Africa and the African diaspora, it facilitates collaboration with African institutes on the level of teaching and research, and it raises awareness on issues linked to African societies.

The Africa Platform publishes the peer-reviewed and open access journal Afrika Focus  it organizes an annual symposium and it offers you a database on Africa expertise at Ghent University Association.

4 thematic group discussions were organised: challenges and opportunities when collaborating with Africa

1. Agriculture and forests ; Chris Vansteenkiste – Vredeseilanden | Isabelle Vertriest – WWF | Mémé A. Tsan Fall – Sopex Consulting, Pascal Boeckx – UGent | Landry Cizungu – Université Catholique de Bukavu
2. (Micro)financing ; Jasmien Bronckaers – Trias | Wouter Vandersypen – Kampani | Marijke D’Haese – UGent, Josephine Mukumby – aBi Finance
3. Energy and water, Marc Despiegelaere – Protos | Steven Poppe – DEME | Arne Verliefde – Water for Development – UGent, African students from the research group Particle and Interfacial Technology – UGent



Prof. Patrick Van Damme

4. Trade (import/export) Arne Schollaert – Oxfam

Announcement:

8 - 9 December 2016. Brussels. The Building Trust Seminar: bridging the gap between farmers, investors and food professionals. this event will a unique opportunity to connect with farmer organisations, private sector actors and financial institutions and to discover sound assessment tools for farmers' performance and professionalism

5 reasons to attend:

1. Discover how to obtain a complete profile and rating of farmer organizations on their professionalism and entrepreneurship by using a sound tool
2. Meet farmers, investors and food professionals in the heart of Europe
3. Exchange finance and business experiences with smallholders
4. Exchange learnings and insights from assessments of farmer organizations with the SCOPEinsight’s tools
5. Connect to a platform that builds global curriculum for capacity building of smallholders to become performant business organisations