Mr. Kingsley K. Asah, the APSS Board Secretary announced that the newly reconstituted Advisory Board and Board of Directors (Executive Board) of the Africa Private Sector Summit (APSS) LBG (https://AfricaPrivateSectorSummit.org/) were inaugurated on February 12, 2024 in a joint virtual induction and inauguration meeting of both boards. The APSS is a pan-African, private sector-led non-profit organization established to promote intra-African trade and investment and an enabling business environment for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). APSS is headquartered in Accra, Ghana. https://AfricaPrivateSectorSummit.org/. The board members of the APSS are eminent businessmen, women, and commercial professionals from across the continent. They were selected in an open, competitive process from Africa’s five regions – Central Africa, East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa, plus the Diaspora (5+1) in alignment with the continent’s regions as formally recognized by the African Union.

Professor Kingsley Moghalu, Chairman of both the Advisory Board and the Executive Board and a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, addressed the new Boards, saying, “This is a new dawn for the Africa Private Sector Summit. Effective corporate governance will define our brand and drive our work as we engage with African governments, the continent’s private sector, and other partners to enable the private sector’s driving role in the implementation of the AfCFTA by ensuring that obstacles to doing business on the continent are removed”. https://apo-opa.co/3SN5EpA 

The APSS has launched a continent-wide advocacy campaign, which will  be supported by high-level and inclusive stakeholder convenings across the continent in 2024, to obtain the adoption of a Charter on the Private Sector Bill of Rights for an Enabling Business Environment (Private Sector Bill of Rights, PSBoR) by the African Union Heads of State and Government at the AU Summit in February 2025. The PSBoR contains 24 specific proposed rights that, if adopted by African leaders and domesticated in national laws and policy, will be a game-changer for trade and investment in the continent and ensure the success of the AfCFTA treaty in practice.

The PSBoR rights include security and stable environments for businesses, effective governance, infrastructure to ease the movement of goods, services, and people, education systems that provide young Africans with the skills needed by businesses for competitive productivity, efficient legal systems, and efficient clearing of cargo at ports and other processes of international trade. Other rights  include free movement of persons in the continent, the right to efficient tax rules that avoid multiple taxation, the right to equal opportunity for market competition, the right to consultation of the private sector on policy, laws, and regulations that affect them, and the right to do business without engaging in bribery and corruption. https://apo-opa.co/3SK0MS7

The APSS Board induction and inauguration included a brief recap by J. Wendell Addy,  founding Chair of the APSS and now a member of the Advisory Board, of the organization’s founding in 2021 and the process that led to the formulation of the Private Sector Bill of Rights with funding support was provided by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). Dr. Lucy Shuryel Newmann, CEO of APSS, presented the APSS Strategy Plan for 2024-2026, which was adopted by the boards, while the boards also received a presentation of a Corporate Governance Overview by a consulting firm.  The combined Advisory Board and Executive Board meeting adopted the APSS Constitution and the APSS Board Charter, which spell out the distinct but connected roles of the Advisory and Executive Boards as well as EXCO. In a corporate governance innovation, both boards are chaired by the same individual to ensure interconnectivity and effectiveness in their functioning,  supported by the same board secretary.

Composition of the new APPS Advisory Board: Prof. Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu (African Diaspora) is the Chairman and the following individuals are  members by regional representation: Mr. Judson Wendell Addy (African Diaspora), Mr. Benjamin Acheampong (African Diaspora). Kingsley Kweku Nkansah Asah - Board Secretary (West Africa), Mr. Adeyemi Adeyinka (African Diaspora), Dr. Eng. Sherif El-Gabaly (North Africa), Dr. Eugenia Xoliswa Kula (Southern Africa), Mr. Otsile Mphela (Southern  Africa), Assoc. Professor Nakijoba Rosemary (East Africa), Mrs. Pheona Nabaasa Wall (East Africa), Mr. Otunba Bimbo Ashiru (West Africa), Mr. Guevera Yao (African Diaspora), Mr. Adama Gaye (West Africa),  Dr. M'Zee Fula-Ngenge (Central Africa), Mr. Gerald F.B.Cooper (African Diaspora).

Composition of the new APSS Executive Board: Professor Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu (African Diaspora) is the  Chairman, Mr. Kingsley Kweku Nkansah Asah (West Africa) is the  Board Secretary, Prof. Sampson Ndoga (Southern Africa), Dr. Jeannine Uwimana-Nicol (East Africa), Mrs. Lesly Priscilla Dacleu Djiengue (Central Africa), Mrs. Mary Concilia Anchang (Central Africa), Dr. Chabuka J Kawesha (Southern Africa), Mrs. Mamotake C. Matekane (Southern Africa), Professor Eunice Ngozi Egbuna (West Africa), Ms. Davisha L Johnson (African Diaspora), Mr. Denis Karera (East Africa), Mr. Jaswinder Bedi (East Africa), Ms. Akuna Cook (African Diaspora), Dr. Lucy Surhyel Newman (West Africa) is the  CEO.

Composition of the APSS EXCO: Dr. Lucy Surhyel Newman (West Africa) is the CEO and Chair of EXCO, Mr. Adedayo Dayo-Dunmoye (West Africa), is the Projects Director and Mr. Fortunate Kwiringira (East Africa) is the Technical Director.