Africa Prosperity Network (APN), which organised the regional series, the Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD), presented the awards as part of the 2024 edition of the dialogues.

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and several other dignitaries from across Africa graced the occasion.

Awardees were the President of Cote d'Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara; the President of Guyana, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali; the Sixth Commonwealth Secretary-General, Baroness Patricia Scotland, and the Principal of Mwale Medical and Technology City (MMTC) in Kenya, Julius Mwale.

The rest are a Nigeria singer, Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade, better known by his stage name, Mr Eazi; the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the AfricanExport–Import Bank (Afreximbank), Professor Benedict Okechukwu Oramah, and a renowned Egyptian businessman, Mohamed M. Abou El Enein.

 Awards

The first award category, the Social Infrastructure Award went to Dr Mwale.

The Mwale Medical and Technology City (MMTC) in Kenya is a $2 billion community-owned sustainable city with 35,000 residents and serves as proof of concept for the development of sustainable smart cities across Africa. 

Ibrahim Mahama (left), founder of Engineers and Planners and CEO of Dzata Cement, speaking during the first high-level session at the APD

The construction of the MMTC began in 2014 and includes the 5,000-bed Hamptons Hospital, among other facilities.

The Young Entrepreneur Award was received by Mr Eazi, who is also a songwriter and record executive.

He is the pioneer of Banku music, a fusion of sound he describes as a mixture of Ghanaian highlife and Nigerian chord progressions and patterns.
President Quattara

The President of Cote d'Ivoire received the Nation Builder Award, presented to him by former President John Agyekum Kufuor.

Mr Ouattara has been President of Cote d'Ivoire since 2010.

As an economist, President Ouattara worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Central Bank of West African States and he was the Prime Minister of Cote d'Ivoire from November 1990 to December 1993, appointed to that post by President Félix Houphouët-Boigny.

Prof. Oramah

Professor Oramah picked up the Financial Leadership Award, which was presented by the Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Wamkele Mene.

Rebecca Akufo-Addo, First Lady, presenting an award to Patricia Scotland (left), Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations, at the 2024 Africa Prosperity Dialogues awards night in Accra. Picture: SAMUEL TEI ADANO

Prof. Oramah assumed the position of President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the AfricanExport–Import Bank (Afreximbank) on September 21, 2015.

Under his tenure at Afreximbank, Prof. Oramah supervised extraordinary financial investments on the African continent across various sectors of the economies of member states.

Under his leadership, Afreximbank has recently established offices in the Caribbean as it expands its activities to include Global Africa, Africa’s sixth region.

Baroness Scotland, El Enein

President of Guyana received the Global Africa Leadership Award, while Baroness Patricia Scotland of Asthal received the Global Africa Champion Award, for her work as the 6th Commonwealth Secretary-General.

She is the second Secretary-General from the Caribbean and the first woman to hold the post.

The Industrialist of the Year Award was presented to the Egyptian, Mr El Enein, which was presented to him by the founder of Engineers and Planners, Ibrahim Mahama, who is also the CEO of Dzata Cement Ltd.

Mr El Enein is a renowned Egyptian businessman, investor, public figure and accomplished politician.

He is the founder and chairman of Cleopatra Group, a company that has established many major projects spread all over Egypt.

He is also the Deputy Speaker of Egypt’s House of Representatives.

Awardees’ commitment

All the award recipients registered their pleasure to the founder and Executive Chairman of the APN, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, and APN, which organises the APD and Africa Prosperity Champions Awards (APCA) for the honour done to them.

They pledged to continue in their various endeavours, which led to the recognition, and to continue to spearhead the transformation agenda of the African continent and their individual sectors of activity to achieve prosperity for Africa and her people.