The brightest and best of Africa’s capital markets were highlighted in New York on 21 September at an awards dinner.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (www.jse.co.za) was recognized as Most Innovative African Stock Exchange, particularly for the Africa Board initiative. Best Performing Ai40 Company was Maroc Telecom (www.iam.ma). Co-operative Bank of Kenya (www.co-opbank.co.ke) won Best African IPO. The Capital Market Authority of Egypt (www.cma.gov.eg) took gold, winning the Most Innovative Capital Markets Regulator and Standard Bank Group (www.standardbank.co.za) took both the Best Africa Investment Bank and Best Africa Research Team Awards.
Kenyan and South African business leaders dominated the CEO categories, as James Mwangi (www.equitybank.co.ke) scooping the Ai100 CEO of the Year and Jacko Maree (www.standardbank.co.za) the Ai40 CEO of the year. Hussein Manzi, CEO, Bamburi Cement in Kenya (www.bamburicement.com) won the AiSRI50 CEO of the Year award and South Africa’s Phuthuma Nhleko, CEO, MTN Group (www.mtn.com) awarded the AiSRI30 CEO of the Year.
Africa investor (Ai) (www.africa-investor.com/), a leading international investment research and communication group announced the 2009 Africa investor Index Series awards jointly with the New York Stock Exchange (www.nyse.com), the world’s largest exchange.
Three winners were presented for each category with a winner, first runner-up and second runner-up, based on performance between April 2008 and April 2009. The awards, based on the Ai100 and Ai40 indices, are reportedly the only international, pan-African awards that recognize institutional investors, stock exchanges, stockbrokers and capital market regulators across the continent.
Raila Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya opened the awards and praised them for showcasing African investment leaders and opportunities to the world. Over 200 senior executives from Africa and the world attended, including CEOs of the Nigerian, Mauritian, Egyptian, Casablanca and Ghanaian Stock Exchanges, as well as leading financial institutions such as the African Development Bank, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), Afrexim Bank, Bank of New York Mellon and Scipion Capital.
Hubert Danso, Vice Chairman of Africa investor, also part of the judging panel, said: “The Awards record performance from April 2008 to 2009, which represents one of the most challenging investment periods in economic history. These Awards go a long way to highlighting the enormous potential and opportunities offered by Africa’s capital markets.”
Dr Tukur, Chairman of the NEPAD Business Group and Africa investor remarked: “Regarded as Africa’s Fortune 500, these awards are a tribute not only to those nominated or the winners, but all the actors in Africa’s capital markets community enabling us to have remarkable success stories to showcase to the world.”
The 2009 Africa investor Index Series Awards will be in the November-December issue of Africa investor magazine (published in English and Chinese). Supporters were NYSE Euronext, Thomson Reuters, the African Development Bank, CNN International, the NEPAD Business Group and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
