Kagame in new push for Kigali's rise as he hosts Africa's top business leaders

In his new bid to position his country as one of Africa's economic powerhouses, Rwandan President Paul Kagame has met top business leaders from the continent.

However, according to The New Times of Rwanda, there was no public communication about the meeting.

Dubbed the African Renaissance Retreat, the highly exclusive meeting is said to have been organised by billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote and brought together about 50 participants.

The meeting was held on September 6-8 in Rwanda’s capital Kigali, bringing together the richest, most influential and brilliant minds and leaders of Africa's most important industrial and financial conglomerates.

The retreat was held at the newly renovated and expanded Kigali Golf Resort and Villas.

President Paul Kagame and Kenya’s President William Ruto appear on the list of participants obtained by The New Times. However, we could not independently verify if the two heads of state indeed attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, three former heads of state, including Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, and Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania were also invited. Former prime minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn was also on the list of attendees.

Billionaires such as Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Egypt-based Orascom TMT Investments, Patrice Motsepe of South Africa-based African Rainbow Minerals, Tanzania's Mohammed Dewji of METL Group, Nigeria's Tony Elumelu of Heirs Holdings, and Femi Otedola of Geregu Power Plc and FBN Holdings Plc, were in attendance.

Dangote also invited to the meeting Makhtar Diop, the managing director of the International Finance Corporation, Hassanein Hiridjee, the head of Axian group, Ivorian Tidjane Thiam, Cameroonians Vera Songwe and Kate Fotso, and the founder of Teyliom, Yérim Sow.

Mostafa Terrab of OCP Group, Moulay Hafid Elalamy of Saham Group, Akinwumi Adesina of the African Development Bank, Benedict Oramah of Afreximbank, and Jim Ovia, the founder of Zenith Bank, were the other VIP attendees.

Also invited to the event were renowned figures such as the president of Bank of America Bernie Mensah, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede of Access Holdings, Abdul Samad Rabiu of United Bank of Africa (BUA) Group, James Mwangi of Equity Group Holdings, Jeremy Awori of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, and Nku Nyembezi of Standard Bank Group.

Kagame reportedly hosted a presidential dinner for the high-level attendees. There was also a fireside chat between Kagame and Dangote.

The industry captains discussed several matters.

Key on the agenda were talks around increasing the free movement of people, goods, and services, financing the continent's development, strengthening collaboration between the public and private sector, and leveraging technology to accelerate the continent's development.

There was a panel on accelerating local production and value addition of which Dangote was part. He has been a strong advocate of Africa's industrialisation agenda and free movement of goods.

"I normally say that Africa is like a scratch card. Unless you scratch it, you will not know what number it is," he said at the recent Africa CEO Forum held in Kigali this year, highlighting that, going forward, he was convinced that the future is in Africa.

Dangote, who's the chairman of Dangote Group, a manufacturing conglomerate, emphasised then that Africans have what it takes to make Africa great, asserting that it was the reason he was putting his own money into the continent.

He said he at the time ignored the capital market boom of the US that led to the growth of companies such as Google and Microsoft in favour of his Africa investments.

"We took all our money and invested in (Africa)," he said, stressing that in the last seven years, Dangote Group has invested more than $25 billion in fertilisers, petrochemicals, refined products, and expansion of cement production.

He currently runs the largest oil refinery in Africa which started production in February this year. The refinery, which cost $20 billion, has a production capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.