Recipient of the 2010 ECOWAS’ Innovation Awards

ECOWAS Announces ‘Private Sector Awards’
August 27th, 2010 · by Modou Joof, Gambia · No Comments
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has announced its prizes to be awarded to business operators and Member States in the sub-region who distinguished themselves in the specific field of energy, entrepreneurship and free movement of goods and people.
The 1st ECOWAS Private Sector Awards is a component of this year’s ECOWAS Commission’s annual Business Forum, which will gather stakeholders in the ECOWAS economic integration process, particularly members of the private sector, government officials, regional and the international organizations, to reflect on deepening the role of the private sector in ECOWAS integration efforts.
“Innovation in Energy”, “Young Entrepreneur’s Award”, and “Best Free Movement Member State” are the three categories of awards to be given at the Forum scheduled to take place from September 27 to October 1, 2010 in the Ivorian capital, Abidjan.
The sub-regional economic body said all nominees must be citizens of ECOWAS Member States or must be legally resident in ECOWAS Member States and they must be twenty-one years by 30th May 2010. They will be judge by their performance during the fiscal year 2009 (1st January 2009 to 31st December 2009) unless otherwise specially stated; and should have made outstanding and lasting impact in their field(s) of operation over a period of 3 to 5 years.
“The selection of nominees for the awards will be done at national level and winners of the national awards will then compete at regional level for the selection of the eventual winner in each category,” ECOWAS said.
The sub-regional body went on to say that an Awards Committee shall be established at both national and regional levels. The selection process will be in two separate rounds. During Round One – the National Committee will select national winners in Innovation in Energy and Young Entrepreneur, respectively while in Round Two – the Regional Committee will select the Regional winners for the Innovation in Energy and the Young Entrepreneur categories from the list of national award winners submitted by the 15 National Committees of ECOWAS Member States.
On the selection of the Best Free Movement Member State of the Year, the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FEWACCI) shall request each National Committee to fill a questionnaire to evaluate the attitude of government officials and agents on promoting free movement of persons and goods.
The National Committee should interview a cross-section of cross-boarder businessmen/women including truckers on their experience on free movement.
Tags: · 2010, Awards, ECOWAS, Private, Sector
3rd Business forum of ECOWAS: To make the West African economies more competitive
Began on September 28, the 3rd Business Forum of ECOWAS which was attended by 400 private sector and civil society was completed on 1 October 2010 with the adoption of a series of recommendations with an accompanying action plan.
The recommendations of the Forum include Abidjan on 3 strategic points, promoting self-sufficiency in energy, improving the business environment, and financing of energy sector.
On the first point, the Forum requested the ECOWAS Commission to declare the decade of self-sufficiency in energy to enable the Governments of the region to give priority to development strategies. Participants also called on member states to strengthen their rural electrification and to set minimum targets for renewable energy adoption and implementation by member states of ECOWAS.
With regard to improving the business environment, the forum recommended the establishment of a regional legal framework in order to ensure private investment in the energy sector. In this context, it has been asked to design and implement reforms to open the energy sector to the private sector.
In addition, he was asked to build human capital in the sector and promote the use of local materials less energy and environmentally friendly.
The Forum recommended the adoption and ratification of the ECOWAS Protocol on Energy defining the regulatory roles and responsibilities of states in the process of developing the sector. The Forum also asked to implement in the region of incentives to encourage private investment in independent power projects.
Regarding the third item on the financing of the Energy Sector, the Forum recommended the support of ECOWAS to private entrepreneurs in the financing and development of energy projects. The Forum then asked to inject more resources for rehabilitation and maintenance of existing infrastructure.
In addition, the Forum adopted a plan of action to implement in time and space the recommendations outlined above.
Recall that besides the 3rd Forum, a ceremony of awards for innovation in energy, entrepreneurship and the free movement were awarded to winners.
LYNAYS, an Ivorian Company producing a management system and energy saving has won first prize for innovation.
The group CERCO (Circle of Study and Building of Knowledge), working in the field of Education and Training in several member states of ECOWAS was awarded Best Entrepreneur of the region.
Finally, based on a field survey, Burkina Faso has repotted the first prize of free movement within the ECOWAS region.
Abidjan Forum was organized by the ECOWAS Commission, with support from the European Union.
Source: http://www.pir-rip.ecowas.int/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22-3eme-forum-des-affaires-de-la-cedeao&catid=7&lang=en