Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire

Amid an increasingly complex geopolitical and economic landscape, the Africa Business Leaders Coalition (ABLC) convened a high-level panel at the Africa CEO Forum 2025 titled “Striking a New Deal: How 70+ CEOs of the Africa Business Leaders Coalition (ABLC) are Elevating Africa’s Global Voice.” The session focused on collective corporate action around climate change, gender equality, and advancing a stronger, unified voice for Africa’s private sector on local, regional, and global platforms.

The panel featured distinguished ABLC members including Martin Ochien'g, Group Managing Director, Sasini PLC;  Tom Gitogo, Group MD and CEO, Britam Holdings PLC and Mustafa Rawji, CEO, Rawbank, with Sanda Ojiambo, CEO and Executive Director, UN Global Compact. The session was moderated by Qahir Danani, Managing Director & Partner, BCG with Tolulope Lewis Tamoka, Chief of Government Relations & Africa, UN Global Compact, serving as Master of Ceremonies.

Key Insights from the ABLC Panel at the Africa CEO Forum 2025

Rebalancing Africa’s Role in Global Development
Panelists emphasized the need for African business leaders to move from participation to leadership in shaping global development agendas. As a platform, the ABLC can connect African innovation and business solutions with multilateral institutions while serving as a conduit for policy insight and cross-continental best practices.

Strength in Scale, Power in Partnership
With a combined annual revenue of $165 billion and more than one million employees across over 70 companies, the ABLC represents a formidable force. Its regional diversity — spanning East, West, North, and Southern Africa — positions it as a unique platform for cross-border collaboration. One standout example: a new trade arrangement between Kenyan and Nigerian ABLC members that is enabling direct intra-African tea exports, bypassing traditional European reprocessing routes. It is a tangible symbol of what African business integration can achieve.

Climate Action, Grounded in African Realities
Although Africa contributes less than 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it remains disproportionately vulnerable to climate impacts. ABLC members reframed this challenge as an opportunity — calling for African-owned climate narratives and greater private sector investment in resilience and renewable energy. One executive spotlighted their company’s solar energy investments as proof that African firms are independently delivering projects with both environmental and commercial returns.

Gender Equality: From Values to Value Creation
Building on two years of focused work on climate, the ABLC has now placed gender equality at the core of its agenda. Companies shared how they are embedding equity through data-driven audits, public reporting, and bold commitments on equal pay, inclusive leadership, and supplier diversity. Gender equality, panelists affirmed, is not just a moral imperative—but a strategic advantage.

Transparency, Accountability, and Action
 ABLC members underscored that progress must be measurable. Public commitments, annual sustainability disclosures, and internal benchmarking are helping companies hold themselves—and each other—accountable. As one CEO put it: “We’re no longer just talking. We are acting—and we are reporting.”

A Coalition for Action, Not Rhetoric
One speaker reflected on the origins of the ABLC, recalling that it emerged from frustration with “endless dialogue and inaction.” That frustration galvanized a group of CEOs to “stop talking and start organizing.” Today, that ethos remains embedded in the Coalition’s DNA: practical, data-driven, and deeply rooted in the belief that Africa’s private sector has the capacity—and responsibility—to lead.

As it grows in membership and ambition, the ABLC is moving beyond elevating Africa’s voice—it is helping to rewrite the global agenda. With a renewed focus on climate action, gender equality, and sustainable development, the Coalition is defining what it means for business to lead with purpose on the continent—and beyond.

Notes to Editors

About the UN Global Compact

The ambition of the UN Global Compact is to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the SDGs through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change. With more than 20,000 participating companies, 5 Regional Hubs, 63 Country Networks covering 80 countries and 13 Country Managers establishing Networks in 18 other countries, the UN Global Compact is the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative—one Global Compact uniting business for a better world. For more information, follow @globalcompact on social media and visit our website at unglobalcompact.org. 

About the Africa Business Leaders Coalition

The Africa Business Leaders Coalition (ABLC) is a CEO-led initiative emanating from the UN Global Compact Africa Strategy 2024–2025 committed to advancing sustainable growth, prosperity, and development in Africa by bringing measurable impact to its most pressing issues. The ABLC works closely with the UN Global Compact Africa Hub, with 14 African Country Networks operating across Africa. Boston Consulting Group is providing strategy and implementation support to the UN Global Compact for the Africa Business Leaders Coalition.