CKGSB and UNESCO Partner on Cultivating Economic Disruption in Africa

PARIS, Dec. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)—represented by CKGSB Founding Dean and Professor of China Business and Globalization Xiang Bing and the Assistant Director-General of the UNESCO Africa Bureau Firmin Edouard Matoko—signed a memorandum of understanding on 3 December 2021. The partnership includes a program and forum aimed at empowering African government officials, young entrepreneurs and women leaders to foster economic disruption, social mobility and gender equality, and generate more unicorn companies with a focus on social innovation in Africa.

This partnership comes at the 65^th anniversary of the opening of diplomatic relations between China and major African nations, with which trade reached $185.2 billion in 2021. As the second largest continent with a similar population size to China and rich ecological and mineral resources, Africa offers immense market potential.

China is noted for its substantive and continued economic disruption, defined by newly emerged large-scale companies and newly minted billionaires in the past four decades. Among the 217 Chinese unicorn companies generated between 2017 and 2021, according to CB Insights, 39 (18%) are founded or run by CKGSB alumni. "The idea of economic disruption is central to economic development and social harmony," said Xiang, "as it is indispensable in generating upward social mobility."

CKGSB has been working with key players since 2015 – Tencent, Baidu, JD.com, Microsoft, Softbank, Bytedance and Alibaba – to establish an ecosystem in China that focuses on developing unicorn companies. "Building on our success in China, we have extended this initiative to European and Middle Eastern markets (in partnership with Churchill College, Cambridge University)," explained Xiang, "and we are keen to expand to African markets."

CKGSB and UNESCO's program, tailored to the needs of African businesses, aims to "foster upward market disruptions through STEM for African entrepreneurs." It seeks to cultivate leaders who promote social innovation, advance upward social mobility, and bring sustainable long-term benefits to Africa. The parties will share resources to help generate STEM talents, provide career development for the youth, and bring more opportunities.

The program also emphasizes the advancement of women leaders in Africa. It will launch the Women in Leadership Forum (African Edition) as a platform for establishing connections, empowerment and capacity building among African women leaders.