The two-day summit, organised by the African Business Venture and Investment Group, brought together players in the business sector and provided an avenue for the various stakeholders to deliberate on investment challenges and the way forward to increase job creation and economic prosperity in the West Africa region.

Mr Moses Owharo, Chairman, Planning Committee of WAIEMTI, speaking at the opening of the summit in Accra said the gathering provided a unique platform for public and private sector players to interact, exchange in-depth knowledge, review success stories and explore new targets among others.

It was on the theme, “Solving Energy Challenges and Increasing Economic Growth to Accelerate Regional Integration and Development through Harnessing Energy, Mining and Trade Opportunities in West Africa”.

Mr Owharo said the summit hopes to establish a regional fund dedicated to supporting Small Medium Enterprises to ensure that businesses flourish as well as create employment. “Small scale miners and other small business owners in the region have viable projects but do not have the seed money or fund to standardise their businesses but this fund would help them do that,” he said.

Mr Owharo hinted that aside the WAIEMTI, there are plans to also bring together stakeholders in agriculture to discuss the point of convergence and share ideas. Alhaji Naamo Abdullahi, a Nigerian Senator, urged businesses in West Africa to unite and remove the barriers that continued to slow the sub-regions’ progress.

He said the development of the sub-region was a worthy objective, capable of being achieved, and that there was no better time to work together to realize the development of its citizens than now. "We do not have the luxury of time. Too much time has passed us by and we need to move as fast as we can; with calculated speed. This can happen when the barriers that continued to slow progress are broken,” he added.