Durban – The head of South Africa's state-owned railway company on Thursday called on African companies to compete less and collaborate more to "take advantage of the huge marketplace that Africa is becoming".
Transnet's chief executive officer, Siyabonga Gama, who is one of the co-chairs of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Africa meetings in Durban this week, was addressing media and his fellow chairs at a briefing called to give journalists the opportunity to hear directly from the co-chairs about their expectations for the meeting and their outlook for Africa.
Gama agreed with so many speakers at the meetings, which are being held in Durban until Friday, when he said there was no doubt that Africa needed to industrialise and to raise the level of entrepreneurship.
But, he added, the continent needed to look at helping itself, specifically "to look for African solutions for African problems".
Adrian Monck, WEF's head of public and social engagement, chaired the briefing by Gama and his fellow co-chairs, Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam International's executive director, Rich Lesser, global chief executive officer and president of the Boston Consulting Group, Frédéric Lemoine, Wendel chairman, and Ulrich Spiesshofer, president and chief executive officer of ABB.