Sterling One Foundation has said that the first edition of its Africa Social Impact Summit will be held this July at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja in support of efforts to strengthen the work of social enterprises, impact investors, and community development practitioners in Nigeria and Africa.
The 2-day hybrid event, which will be held from July 13 to 14, 2022, is in partnership with the United Nations Global Compact, Coca-Cola Foundation, Impact Investors Foundation, and Sterling Bank.
It is expected to bring together thousands of players working within the African development space to attract impact investments into critical sectors across the continent.
Set up in 2018, the Sterling One Foundation has played the role of catalyst and convener by providing and facilitating different resources such as alternative financing to impact-driven organizations, including non-profits, to create long-term impact and close gaps in underserved communities across Africa.
The Africa Social Impact Summit aims to create realistic and effective frameworks that will make it easier for African countries to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals with the help of change makers who are tackling various challenges and driving behavioral change with their solutions.
Chief Executive Officer of Sterling One Foundation, Olapeju Ibekwe while Speaking about the summit opined that the platform presents a solid opportunity for Africa’s civil society and impact investment arms to make big moves in how much quota they contribute to nation-building across Africa.
In her words, “Our vision at the Sterling One Foundation is to tackle the root causes of poverty by working with different impact investors, social enterprises, and non-profits.
“We see daily how crucial the role they play in achieving this for Africa is, and this is why we are setting up this collaborative platform for these stakeholders to meet and engage with other stakeholders—business and government leaders—to share ideas that work and solutions that can scale.”
In addition to the summit’s opportunities for dialogue with key stakeholders, the Sterling One Foundation’s team plans to establish and support regional networks that will serve as knowledge sharing hubs, assisting both public and private sector players in aligning their priorities with the development space, facilitating the measurable achievement of the SDGs, and ensuring that solutions developed by various players are scalable and address the continent’s most pressing issues.
Notably, the summit will host a deal room in collaboration with the Impact Investors Foundation, where impactful and scalable solutions will access needed financing from local and global investors to address the continent’s unique challenges while accelerating growth toward the SDGs.
The event is open to attendees from all African nations, as well as foreign players with a keen interest in Africa, and will focus on discussions on climate action, circular economy, renewable energy, health, education, and gender equality.
