JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 2 August 2022 — Business leaders from across Johannesburg gathered today in Johannesburg as part of the UN Global Compact Africa Business Leaders Coalition (ABLC) to discuss how to advance Africa’s sustainable growth, prosperity and development.
The ABLC is a CEO-led initiative emanating from the UN Global Compact Africa Strategy 2021–2023 and is committed to bringing measurable impact to the continent’s most pressing issues. It works closely with the UN Global Compact Hub in Abuja and 10 Global Compact Local Networks operating across Africa. Members of the ABLC commit to upholding the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact and becoming a UN Global Compact participant within six months of joining.
Ahead of COP27 to be held in Egypt in November 2022, the ABLC will focus its efforts on sustainable development and ambitious climate action by bringing the perspectives of dozens of leading African CEOs and Board Chairs into the global conversation.
During today’s roundtable in Johannesburg, participants discussed possible content for the ABLC Climate Statement to be presented at COP27. ABLC members will be invited to sign the statement with credible climate commitments and actions.
Business leaders and representatives participating in the roundtable included:
- Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, Naspers
- Fleetwood Grobler, Sasol
- Arrie Rautenbach, Absa Group
- Phumzile Langeni, Imperial Logisitics
- Portia Derby, Transnet SOC
- Nompumelelo Madisa, Bidvest Group
- Kuseni Dlamini, Massmart
- Stavros Nicolaou, Aspen Pharmacare
- Portia Bangerezako, Old Mutual
- Feroz Koor, Woolworths
- Ronell Govender, Naspers
- Carin Tredoux, Sasol
- Raksha Sunderlall, Sasol
- Dr Ayodele Odusola, United Nations Interim Resident Coordinator SA and Head of UNDP
The ABLC Roundtable was co-hosted by the Global Compact Network South Africa, supported by Naspers.
Notes to Editors
About the United Nations Global Compact
As a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with Ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Our ambition is to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the Sustainable Development Goals through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change. With more than 15,000 companies and 3,000 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and 69 Local Networks, 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 @globalcompactsa on social media and visit our website at www.globalcompactsa.org.za or unglobalcompact.org.
Contact
Global Compact Network South Africa at info@globalcompactsa.org.za
ablc@unglobalcompact.org
