The Executive Chairman of the KGL Group and former Board Chair of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr. Alex Apau Dadey, delivered a resounding opening address at the Forward Africa Leaders Symposium 2025, held in partnership with the Africa Peer Review Mechanism at the iconic home of global enterprise — NASDAQ, New York.

Sharing the global stage with distinguished leaders and innovators such as H.E. Dr. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the  President of Namibia, Prime Minister of Lesotho, Ntsokoane Samuel Matekane, Deputy Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament and Chair of Cleopatra Group H.E. Mohamed AbdulEnien, and CEO and President MTN Group  Mr. Ralph Mupita, to share best practices, build meaningful partnerships, and chart pathways for the future of digital transformation and innovation across the continent.

Opening his keynote, Mr. Dadey posed a bold challenge: “The challenge before us is not whether change is possible, but how quickly and inclusively we can harness it.

The answer, I believe, lies in the strength of partnerships — genuine, strategic Public-Private Partnerships that unite the innovation, capital, and execution capacity of the private sector with the legitimacy, reach, and enabling authority of governments.”

Drawing on a distinguished career spanning over three decades, across continents and key sectors, Mr. Dadey recounted how his journey in the United Kingdom and over 25 countries, to his tenure in public service as the former GIPC Board Chair, has shaped his vision. At its core, his lifelong passion remains rooted in multilateral collaboration, diaspora socio-economic inclusion, and harnessing technology to push boundaries for business and society.

Underscoring the vital role of the private sector, Mr. Dadey reaffirmed a principle he has long advocated: “I have always maintained that governments do not create wealth — the private sector does. Governments on their own cannot drive transformation, but sadly, private enterprises that do are most often treated as afterthoughts in national strategies, relegated to the rear when they should be at the centre of policy deliberations and implementation.”

He highlighted that the most successful PPPs in Africa are those where private sector profit motives align seamlessly with government revenue generation and public development goals. Citing the KGL Group’s own ethos, he emphasised that “Wealth created through PPPs should make a lasting impact in the communities it operates in.

The private sector should not limit PPPs to only commercial collaboration but also be responsible corporate citizens by filling in critical social intervention gaps left uncovered by governments.

This philosophy he cited gave rise to the KGL Foundation, established as the CSR arm of the Group to fulfil this vision,” he explained.

In a thought-provoking moment, Mr. Dadey asked: “If multinational corporations can generate wealth in Africa and repatriate to their home countries, why can’t African countries do the reverse?”

He asserted that Africa’s true path to global scale lies in mastering its own markets, building resilient business models, and creating fit-for-purpose innovations.

According to him, the continent must purposefully create African Global Giants: “These champions are not just wealthy individuals; they are economic shock absorbers, role models who inspire the next generation of business leaders.

They are the anchors of supply chains, the investors in local R&D, and the patient capital that foreign direct investment is not.

We need an ecosystem where a start-up in Accra can realistically envision becoming a multi-billion-dollar entity that lists here on NASDAQ.”

Mr. Dadey closed with a stirring reminder that Africa’s future lies in how boldly it chooses to celebrate, rather than stifle, its own champions. “We cannot build economies of scale if we constantly cut down the tallest trees,” he declared, urging Africa to purposefully create and support its own Global Giants.