Chairman, African Business Schools (ABS), Edward Mungai
The need to get government, organizations and intellectual bodies actively involved in expanding African economic potentials was the thrust of discourse at the Association of African Business Schools (AABS), international conference.
Converged at Oriental Hotel Victoria Island, Lagos, the group, which canvasses inclusive growth in African economies, averred that collective effort is imperative in achieving economic prosperity in the continent.
With theme as, Exponential Africa: Including everybody In Expanding Economies, this year’s edition, which was hosted by the Lagos Business School (LBS) highlighted what governments and organizations can do to manage the exponential growth and at the same time make the growth inclusive.
Chairman, African Business Schools (ABS), Edward Mungai, remarked that the yearly event moves around the continent to different member schools to enable all business schools in Africa contribute towards inclusive economic and social development in the continent by promoting excellence and responsibility in business and management education.
He said: “ We are in Nigeria and everybody knows that Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa. So, we chose to come with the theme exponential growth, because that’s what you have. But part of what we are discussing, is how that can be made inclusive so that everybody participates; so that we don’t have gap between different hierarchies in the economies.
On her part, Dean, LBS, Enase Okonedo, stated we are just looking at everybody in expanding economies. If you look at the fastest growing economies in the world, over the last eight to 10 years, about four of African countries have been featuring. And it’s important that the growth in the economy is an inclusive growth.
So, we feel there is a nexus between businesses and business schools, and so far we have not exploited the ways in which we can work together to ensure that there is relevance with what we offer in business schools and the universities. Of course, that can only happen if there is a conversation that is taking place between business people as well as academics.
Guardian