EXPLORING GLOBAL TRENDS, HIGHLIGHTING AFRICAN OPPORTUNITIES, AND ADDRESSING THE WORLD’S “POLYCRISIS” IN DAVOS
Davos, Switzerland - The Swiss village of Davos becomes the focus of global attention each January (May in 2022 due to COVID-19 related delays). Royalty, heads of state and government, corporate titans, NGO leaders, key representatives of civil society, and various types of influencers congregate for the World Economic Forum (WEF) and ancillary activities. For a few days an eclectic mix of leaders in and around the Forum seize the opportunity to discuss major global currents.
UN GoodWill Ambassador Sabrina Dhowre Elba speaking at a session with Lombard Odier, featuring major corporates, startups, think tanks, financial institutions and other system leaders to explore new solutions and innovation and innovative partnerships can shape the future of our food systems.
As just about nothing in Davos is inexpensive, the frigid, but exquisitely beautiful Alpine village, is not for those averse to cold or light of wallet. Accommodation costs were astronomical with Schweiz am Wochenende newspaper reporting that a three-bed studio “costs CHF2,600 ($2,800) a night during the WEF”, Uber rides of a few minutes can range around US$ 30.
Davos is a trek from most places - almost two and half hours by train from Switzerland’s largest city Zurich. The literal high-flyers arrive by private jet. With international scrutiny high, Yahoo! Finance’s Julie Hyman reported on January 24 th that some attendees “did seem increasingly aware of how they’re perceived outside of their bubble in the Swiss Alps and are making some attempts to address those perceptions.” In response “WEF has said it offsets all of that travel by buying carbon credits. Some CEOs have responded by flying commercial, which has a lower carbon footprint.”
Tola St. Matthew-Daniel, Executive Vice President, Freuds Group, conveners of Goals House in conversation with Sweta Chakraborty, CEO, We Don't Have Time and Sanda Ojiambo, UN Assistant Secretary General and UN Global Compact CEO at the Salesforce women's reception with NYSE, UN Women, and Cheri Blair Foundation.
The overarching theme for this year’s WEF was “polycrisis”. According to the New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin, the term “now refers to the swirl of global emergencies that include economic slowdowns and rising inflation, the war in Ukraine and more.”
In shaping the agenda WEF released its Global Risks Report 2023. The findings are terrifying: “ At present, the global pandemic and war in Europe have brought energy, inflation, food and security crises back to the fore. These create follow-on risks that will dominate the next two years: the risk of recession; growing debt distress; a continued cost of living crisis; polarized societies enabled by disinformation and misinformation; a hiatus on rapid climate action; and zero-sum geo-economic warfare.”
Positive developments from Africa were also on high-profile display. Africa House, which includes The Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am as a co-chair, debuted in 2020 along Davos’ prized promenade. Deutsche Welle’s Business editor Ashutosh Pandey reported that although “Africa and issues concerning it have been regularly debated and discussed prominently during annual meetings of the World Economic Forum, African governments and businesses have been largely absent from the promenade, where countries and companies have been setting up pavilions for years to attract investments and build networks.”
will.i.am, whose birth name is William Adams and leads Angel Foundation, touted ChatGPT. Speaking to Yahoo! Finance’s Senior Tech Reporter Allie Garfinkle, the singer/ songwriter said: “I’m just anticipating the inevitable where these new technologies will render a lot of jobs obsolete, but there’s going to be new jobs that are going to be unearthed and they should come from communities like mine.”
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Director General the World Trade Organization joined cede Global Health CEO, Dr. Vanessa Kerry, in a fireside discussion, exploring the impact investing in health can have on wealth and prosperity and how these investments can have a powerful ripple effect on equality, gender issues and stability.
Convened by mega public relations firm freuds, Goals House is dedicated “to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”. The venue hosted over fifty events including a panel on “megatrends” exploring how global business is navigating an era of unpredictability and transformative shifts across geographies, generations, and technology. Longer life expectancy and how to pay for it, dubbed the “longevity economy”, was a major topic.
In his reports for the New York Times’ DealBook Sorkin emphasized how much business occurs away from official proceedings at the Davos Congress Centre. Venues like Africa House and Goals House were two prime examples. He wrote that “many aren’t participating in public panels, either; they’re holding private meetings with existing and prospective clients at hotels scattered across town.”
Goals House ended with a reception hosted by Bank of America focused on advancing women’s economic empowerment. Special guests were pioneering New York Stock Exchange Chair and Seneca Women Partner Sharon Bowen and Saudi Arabian business leader Lubna Olayan, Chair of the Executive Committee at Olayan Financing Company. Bowen ended the hectic week on a high note telling “how she uses her platform to educate listed companies on being solutions” toward greater inclusion of women and Minorities.
As the annual lofty convening in Davos concluded, many conversations were had, a lot of salient issues were debated, countless connections were made and a plethora of deals done. Hopefully, significant progress also was made toward solving the polycrisis.
New York Stock Exchange Chair Sharon Bowen (right) and international financier Harold Doley, III at Goals House in Davos on January 19, 2023