Ishmael Yamson and Associates launched a new foundation on 28 May at its 12th Business Roundtable in Accra, aiming to train Africa’s next generation of business leaders.
The Ishmael Yamson Foundation will identify and develop young talent through incubation, strategic training, and access to senior networks, the firm said. It opened by sponsoring 100 young delegates to attend this year’s event at the Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel.
Chief Executive Ishmael Yamson Jnr positioned the body as the firm’s long-term engine for leadership development, framing the Roundtable itself as a strategic convening rather than a talking shop.
“The Foundation is our dedicated vehicle for generational strategy and execution,” Yamson said.
He urged African businesses to become the primary financiers of the continent’s future, pointing to event partners Huawei and Gold Fields as examples of confidence in the platform. He also warned that Africa’s projected workforce of 1.6 billion young people by 2050 demands urgent private investment in skills.
Delivering the keynote, Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson said Africa must use the coming quarter century to convert its potential into production, value addition, and shared prosperity. He called for a continental digital strategy spanning regional data centres, affordable broadband, cross border payments, cybersecurity, and skills for millions of young people.
Forson argued that global relevance would not be handed to the continent but built through industrialisation, integration, and stronger institutions. Discussions pressed for African firms to use the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to build pan-African ventures and competitive supply chains.
This year’s gathering drew more than 400 participants from government, industry, finance, academia, and civil society, alongside a broadcast and digital audience, organisers said.
Ishmael Yamson and Associates is a Ghana based advisory and thought leadership firm that has convened the Roundtable for twelve years to shape debate on enterprise, governance, and economic development.
