“We are here, because the unique conditions of our time make the discussion on security ever more important and ever more personal to each one of us”. With these strong words, part of a powerful rallying speech aimed at all Africans, the Hon Uhuru Kenyatta, 2013 Kenyan presidential candidate and current Deputy Prime Minister, closed the first edition of the Africa Forum on Business and Security held in Nairobi on September 13^th and 14^th 2012.

Despite ethnic violence on Kenya’s eastern coast and a foiled terrorist attack in Nairobi which created a sombre background to the Forum, Kenyatta urged his compatriots to shed their differences because “unless we unite in a spirit of peace, we will never fulfil our potential as a nation”. He also added that “it is our responsibility to spread that message of unity to all our citizens and create an environment where they can stand as one. Ultimately together we create our future”.

This message of unity was a fitting end to the Forum’s discussions, not only because Kenyatta himself is sometimes seen as a polarising figure in Kenya, but because the words “togetherness”, “partnership” and “collaboration” were the dominant themes of the two day event organised by the New Security Foundation, that brought together leading figures from the worlds of business and security from 22 countries.

A copy of Kenya’s Deputy Prime Minister’s speech is available for download here.

Auma Obama, Chairman and founder of the Sauti Kuu Foundation in Kenya, and half-sister of U.S. President Barack Obama, spoke for the youth of Africa during her speech during the session Education, Training, and Skills: How to Develop the Skills Necessary to Stimulate Africa’s Economies. In a passionate speech, she said “think globally, act locally”. She underlined the necessity for local engagement in order to change a culture of passivity and despair to one of self-empowerment and achievement.

Dr Obama also emphasized the need to return to basics. True security is about securing the basic needs in life, such as education, food and shelter, and the youth of Kenya and Africa face enormous challenges in securing those necessities. “We need to stop thinking and seeing Africa as a whole. We must start in our streets, in our homes and assess the needs and problems there. If we can solve these issues, we can settle any problem”. Security is about securing the dreams of today’s youth, making sure they do not feel cheated or without perspectives.

New Security Foundation Chairman Dr Harold Elletson invoked the spirit of the founder of modern Kenya, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, when he described the aim of the Africa Forum on Business and Security.  Kenya’s founding father had “harambee” (togetherness) as is watchword and Dr Elletson told participants in the Africa Forum that the concept was as relevant today in facing the security challenges that confront modern Africa as it had ever been.

“The purpose of this forum is to create a platform for dialogue about these new challenges and an opportunity for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and experience” he said.  The participants would take the seriousness of his words to such an extent.  The underlying theme of the presentations during the first day of the conference was “togetherness”, creating an understanding that the challenges we face are the same and that working together is the only way to overcome them.

During the Forum’s opening session, the European Union’s Ambassador to the African Union, Gary Quince, demonstrated the heavy impact conflict and insecurity are having on the development of African countries, whilst speakers in a session on Africa’s private security sector  stressed the need for regulation and oversight of the private security sector, whether as international standards (Daniel Shepherd) or local regulations (Stephen Kirimi and Njeri Kururu).The morning  sessions concluded with a special session on Kenya’s devolution process,  which were presented by the Chairman of Kenya’s Transition Authority, Kinuthia Wamwangi,

In other sessions, key topics including the role of information and communication security,  trade, transport, and maritime security and resource security were discussed.  The Forum’s Panels featured insightful contributions from Édouard Dahome of Électricité de France (EDF); Paul Owino of Microsoft; Issouf Diallo, Permanent Secretary of the ICT MInistry of Burkina Faso; and Cpt Twalib Khamis, General Manager of Operations with the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA). The presentations for those sessions are accessible here.

The first day of the Africa Forum on Business and Security concluded its proceedings with a session entitled Security, Investment, and Finance: Making Africa Safe for Business, that featured speakers including Sir Paul Judge,  President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing; Richard Kiplagat, Director Growth & Opportunity at Africa Practice East Africa Ltd; M’Hamed Cherif, Director, Business Climate (Bizclim) of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP); and Mercy Achola, Chief Operations Officer of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers. All of them unequivocally stated not only that commerce cannot succeed in a climate of insecurity, but that the new shape of modern threats imposed a need for collaboration between sectors and industries, in order to maximise the protection of investments and assets.

The speakers of the panel on Information and Communication Technology have raised key issues that affect both growth and security.  The importance of updated and safe databases; understanding the power of ICT from economic and educative perspectives and more importantly, the reach ICTs have in continents such as Africa and how the human element  – the core factor of security – remains the most important factor in a technology filled world.

It is the interdependence of technology, awareness, knowledge that defines ICT and its power and makes it a very powerful tool, especially in Africa, where such technology is not used for entertainment purposes but as means for dissemination of information and education.

Speakers at the panel were very adamant about the need for regulation and oversight of the private security sector whether as international standards (Daniel Shepherd) or local regulations (Stephen Kirimi, Njeri Kururu). The panel also raised the important issue of proper education for actors of the industry, knowledge that will and must be properly applied by taking the environmental factors into account. The structuring of the private security sector through education and the establishment of regulation would help not only change perceptions but improve the quality and efficiency of the industry.

“Working together”. This expression can resume the speeches delivered during the opening session of the Africa Forum on Business and Security. All speakers advocated the need to “come together”, “bridge differences” and reassert awareness of the interactions and interdependence that defines our globalized world.  More importantly, the panel advocated that the relationship between business and security is symbiotic and that only their combined efforts will ensure both development and security not just for Africa, but for every nation in the world.

Welcoming participants in the first Africa Forum on Business and Security, Dr Harold Elletson, Chairman of The New Security Foundation, said:

” Twenty-five years ago, we lived in a world that was very different. Security was still defined by the Cold War and by the competing interests and ideologies of nation states.

The revolution in information and communications technology, which has transformed modern societies and their politics, had not happened. Economic globalisation was still in its infancy. Privatisation was only beginning to spread around the world.

Twenty-five years ago, Africa was seen by the rest of the world in a very different light. If they thought about it at all, outsiders still saw this great continent as a place of suffering and misery. It was the object of pity in some, guilt in others. It was a place to be shunned or avoided; for businesses, all too often, it was a focus of exploitation, rather than an opportunity for investment.

Now things are very different.

Many African economies are enjoying unprecedented economic growth. Whilst European and North American economies continue to battle recession, their African counterparts are seeing growth rates of 6 or 7 per cent. Some estimates show that, over the next 5 years, the average African economy will grow faster than the average Asian economy.

At long last, there is a real chance that the people of Africa will be able to enjoy a significant and sustained improvement in their standard of living. That will not only be good news for Africans, but for the rest of us too.

Economic growth, however, is closely linked to security. And it is a failure to deal with today’s security challenges that could hold back prosperity tomorrow.

Some of these challenges are peculiarly African, others are the same ones that face all of us. Some are connected to persistent problems, others are the result of frightening new threats that have emerged in our age of constant technological innovation and with the development of a wholly new global security environment.

The purpose of this forum is to create a platform for dialogue about these new challenges and an opportunity for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and experience.

The nature of security has changed fundamentally and businesses are increasingly a part of the modern security equation. There are new vulnerabilities and new opportunities.

We have brought together political leaders, investors, managers, security experts, and academics from many different countries and a variety of different backgrounds to discuss the new security challenges facing Africa and what they mean for business.

I hope that the Africa Forum on Business and Security, which will be an annual event, will make a contribution, however small, to security and prosperity in Africa.”

Kenyan presidential candidate and Deputy Prime Minister, Honourable Uhuru Kenyatta, son of the country’s modern founding father Jomo Kenyatta, will address participants at the Africa Forum on Business and Security during a special session on September 14. The presence of Deputy Prime Minister Kenyatta emphasizes the spirit of dialogue and cooperation that is at the core of the event.  Other speakers at the forum include Kenyan Minister of Defence, the Honourable Mohamed Yusuf Haji, as well as the Vice-President of the Republic of South Sudan, the Honourable Dr Riek Machar, together with representatives of leading African and international companies.

Hon Mohamed Yusuf Haji, EGH MP, Kenya’s Minister of Defence and Acting Minister of Internal Security and Provinicial Administration will deliver a major speech on the current security situation at the Africa Forum on Business and Security. Mr Haji assumed the Internal Security portfolio following the death of Minister George Saitoti in a helicopter crash earlier this year. An ethnic Somali and a Muslim, he has led Kenya’s Operation Linda Nchi against Al-Shabaab militants. A member of the KANU Party, he represents the Ijara constituency in the National Assembly.

Ambassador Gary Quince, the European Union’s delegate to the African Union, will address the Forum and discuss cooperation between Africa and Europe in the fields of economic development and security.  Colonel Sandy Wade, Military Advisor, European Union Delegation to the African Union in Addis Ababa says, “Africa’s own recognition of security as the key element in the development of a stable and prosperous future for the Continent and its people has been picked up by Europe within the Joint Africa Europe Strategy.  [Security] forms the first, and arguably the most important, of the Africa-European Union Partnerships.

“As a partnership, both sides stand to gain from the Joint Africa Europe Strategy. Stability and security in Africa will enable the development of both production capacity and markets for both partners. The importance of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy to Europe is clearly evidenced by the important financial assistance that the EU commits to the people and continent of Africa.”