Barclays Africa Group Limited on Monday held a pioneer Forum in Africa. The first of its kind in Africa, held in Nairobi touched on the macro economic environment, emerging trends in supply chain and emerging financial technologies in business development.
The high powered Forum brought together a team of Barclays C-level executives led by Peter Matlare the Group Deputy CEO & CEO, Rest Of Africa Barclays Africa Group Limited on one hand, and local industry players and experts in business, technology and supply chain management as well as the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and Kenya Vision 2030 Director General on the other hand. In attendance were Charles Muchene and Jeremy Awori, Barclays Bank Kenya Limited, Board Chairman and Managing Director, respectively, besides several Board members.
The invite only Forum was targeted at Group/EMEA Treasurers and Africa decision-makers of clients within global corporates, non-bank financial institutions and global development organization’s, as well as large local corporates operational in or have indicated interest in Africa as an investment destination. The forum was addressed by among others Vimal Shah – CEO Bidco Africa Limited, Karim Dostmohamed – CEO Frigoken Kenya, part of Aga Khan Development Network, Charles Murito – Country Manager, Google Kenya, Nicholas Nesbitt, General Manager, IBM East Africa, Carole Kariuki – CEO KEPSA and Dr Julius Muia – Director General, Kenya Vision2030.
Addressing the Forum, Peter Matlare touched on a number of significant developments in the Barclays group including the impending divestiture of the African business by Barclays Plc. Jeremy Awori also reassured the investor and banking community that the African and Kenyan businesses were very robust, with strong balance sheets and enviable performance and liquidity ratios.
Arising from this Forum, Barclays anticipates to launch, in the near future a number of significant initiatives to retain its role as a leading Pan African financial services provider.
