The International Advertising Association (IAA) is collaborating with CNN, Brand Finance, Women In Marketing and other supporting brands to host the 4th edition of its “Africa Rising” Leadership Conference to showcase thought-leadership and market insights from across Africa and the rest of the world. The theme of the virtual event, "Africa to the World" draws attention to the need to dial up the significance of Brands as the engine of economic revival in Africa.

Joel Nettey, the first African to become the IAA’s Global President and Chairman, said “The pandemic has made the need for African countries to support the private sector and build strong, valuable brands and businesses, more urgent and important than ever. It is time for brands in Africa to stand up and show their resilience and relevance to consumers across the world”.

“We look forward to welcoming business leaders, from the Marketing, Advertising, PR and Media industries across African and the global marketing communications ecosystem to join us virtually as restrictions on travel and in person gatherings remain due to the COVID pandemic” he said.

Norkor Duah, IAA’s Vice-President & Area Director for Africa, said “The leadership of the IAA’s chapters across key markets on the African continent are working together to ensure the first virtual edition of our interactive regional conference makes a great impact”.

“We are excited to have support from CNN, a global leader in international news, to help deliver world class packaging and projection of the content that will emanate from this gathering of some of the most influential leaders in the marketing communications industry” she said.

The event will also see the exclusive launch of Brand Finance’s Top 150 Brands in Africa 2021 report and a wide range of keynote speakers and panelists from leading African and global brands including MTN, Standard Bank, Nielsen, LinkedIn, Google, Coca Cola, Mastercard, and many others.

The two-day Leadership conference comes off virtually on the 28th and 29th of September 2021.