By James Wakahiu
A major international conference on economic transmission for Africa
opened on Thursday at Mount Kenya University (MKU) main campus in
Thika town on Thursday.
The 8th annual international conference of the Centre for African
Research on Enterprise and Economic Development (Careed) is being
held under the theme, “Fostering Economic Transformation in African
Ecosystems: The Impact of Trade, Infrastructure and innovation.” More
than 70 papers from renowned global scholars will be presented across
several parallel sessions during the two-day conference which is being
held on 27th and 28th of June 2024.
Photo/MKU Chancellor Professor John Struthers welcoming the guests at the international conference.Photo: By James Wakahiu
The Chancellor is also a Director at CAREED for University of the West of Scotland (UWS) said the conference is significant as it is being held in Africa for the first time. “This year’s conference is also noteworthy because of the number and range of papers being presented and the many African countries represented,” he said.
The keynote speakers at the forum are Dr Santino Severoni, Director of
the Department of Health and Migration, WHO Headquarters based in
Geneva s an experienced international senior technical adviser and
executive and Prof. Dr. Charles Mulli, Founder of Mully Children’s
Family Trust (MCF) based in Machakos county, Kenya.
Dr Severoni has worked governments, NGOs, and foundations in eastern
Africa, central Asia, the Balkans, and Europe. His areas of expertise
include global health, health sector reforms, health systems
strengthening, health diplomacy, aid coordination effectiveness and
management of complex emergencies.
Within WHO, he has held various positions including WHO
Representative in Albania and Tajikistan, Regional Office’s Special
Representative on Health and Migration and acting interim Director on
Health Systems and Public Health. Dr Santino Severoni has also been
Director of the Department of Health and Migration at WHO
headquarters since 2020. He is a medical doctor, health economist,
epidemiologist, and systems manager with over 24 years’ experience.
On his part, Prof Mulli is a renowned social entrepreneur globally. He
established the children’s home, trust and Christian charitable
organisation in 1989, dedicating to providing dignified livelihoods to
children, youth, and marginalised members of society.
Prof Mulli's personal experiences as a former street child inspired his
lifelong mission to transform the lives of vulnerable populations, one
child at a time. A transformative encounter with street children in 1986
led to the establishment of MCF in 1989. Selling his assets, he dedicated
his life to providing homeless children with shelter, education, and hope.
Since then, MCF has successfully rehabilitated and reintegrated over
28,000 beneficiaries and currently cares for approximately 7,500 by
providing essential services like parental care, spiritual nourishment,
education, and healthcare.
Dr. Vincent Gaitho, Chairman of Council and Pro-Chancellor Mount
Kenya University said the seven pervious conferences of the CAREED
took place in Scotland, Europe, at the University of the West of Scotland
(UWS). “The 8th International Conference marks the arrival of the “new
being” or the “new entity”, “new baby”, within our larger community.
This is a milestone achievement for both CAREED and for UWS for
having successfully nurtured the conference series at UWS through the
past seven years or over, which included the dreadful time of the
COVID 19 pandemic”.
Dr Gaitho said CAREED’s five key areas of interest”, namely,
commodities and exporting; logistics and supply chain management;
enterprise and entrepreneurship (including gender enterprise); enterprise
and entrepreneurship, governance and ethics” as shall be reflected in the
conference proceedings, should also be well ear-marked as areas of
future research and development in Africa by Africans.
“We must remind ourselves of the need to have the youth in African in
all what comes with this new entity. Available literature supports this
need of deliberate involvement (and not by chance!) of the youth on
every socio-economic transformation engagements in African including
the series of CAREED conferences,” he said.
The Pro-chancellor appreciated the WHO’s migration health discourse
guided more specifically, by the International Organization for
Migration and the Center for Health and Migration as significant entities
in international movements of goods and people and related logistics.
“We look forward to receive recommendations from this conference that
will be used in reaching out to more stakeholders to take advantage of
the conference proceedings and publications as tangible, action areas in
driving the future of the African Continent for the overall good of the
African people,” he said.
MKU Vice Councillor, Prof. Deogratius Jaganyi said the University of
the West of Scotland and MKU have continued to enjoy a synergetic
partnership, exemplified by the recently concluded Knowledge Transfer
Partnership (KTP) project. The project is funded by Innovate UK and
partnered with Farmtrack Consulting, a private company in Kenya.
The VC said trade contributes to 15 per cent of Africa's GDP,
infrastructure development can boost economic growth by 2-3%
annually, and innovation has the potential to increase productivity by up
to 30%. “As we forge a united front towards fostering economic
transformation in African ecosystems, the impact of trade, infrastructure,
and innovation cannot be overemphasized,” he added.
Appreciating the delegates and speakers participating in the conference,
Prof Jaganyi said these key themes are instrumental in supporting
livelihoods and promoting economic prosperity across sub-Saharan
Africa.
According to Prof Struthers, the year since the 7th Annual Conference
was held at the Paisley Campus of UWS in 2023 has been a busy and
eventful period for Careed, with many new members joining the centre.
Highlights include: the first Distinguished Lecture presentation by
Professor David Luke of the London School of Economics (LSE) based
on his recently co-edited book How Africa Trades; more short papers
written by CAREED colleagues for the centre’s Policy and Practice
Insights Series.
Last year, a new initiative by the renowned Royal Society of Edinburgh
(RSE) to promote links between Scottish Universities and African
Universities across a range of subject themes commenced. Prof
Struthers said CAREED will lead this RSE initiative in the area of
Enterprise and Economic Development.
Other key milestones during the past year have been the completion of
the African Agriculture Knowledge Training Partnership (AAKTP)
project in which MKU and Farmtrack Ltd in Kenya are partners. A new
agriculture project commenced in Nigeria at the end of 2023.
In the last year one year, a significant number of doctorate degrees were
awarded to CAREED research students, several of whom have joined
the academic staff at UWS in the School of Business and Creative
Industries.
The joint planning committee for this year’s forum includes Dr Henry
Yatich of MKU and Dr Ephias Ruhode and Dr Mbusiro Chacha of UWS
and Deputy Director of CAREED, Dr Adebisi Adewole. The sponsors
for this year’s conference were Superior Homes (Kenya) Ltd;
Henderson Properties (Scotland); Overseas Students House (Ghana);
Grace Education (Kenya) and IEIS Ltd.
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