New York, U.S.A. – The Leonard N. Stern School of Business of the New York University recently gave its inaugural Distinguished Alumni Award to Jean Louis Ekra, President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in recognition of his contributions to international trade development.
At an award ceremony held as part of the School’s African Business Forum, which took place in New York on 6 April, Prof. Peter Henry, Dean of the NYU Stern, said that Mr. Ekra, through his professional achievements and leadership of Afreximbank, had become a beacon in demonstrating the high values and ideals that have set apart the Leonard N. Stern School of Business. He commended the President for his continuing support to his alma mater. Responding, Mr. Ekra said that his training at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business had instilled in him certain values and core ethics that make the institution a special place. “
As I have progressed in life, I have found myself calling on that spirit, those values and those core ethics in confronting the many challenges that abound in today’s business environment. On each and every occasion, I have felt very proud to call myself a product of the Stern Business School,” he stated.
Delivering a keynote address later, Mr. Ekra said that with Africa’s middle class expanding so rapidly, there were abundant opportunities for those who wanted to do business on the continent.
According to him, African economies were the second fastest growing group in the world in the last decade, posting average annual real GDP growth of about 4.9 per cent which was second only to developing Asia’s 5.1 per cent. Again, six of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world between 2001 and 2010 were in Africa, with that number projected to increase to seven by 2015 Mr. Ekra told the young Africans in the audience that “as Africa’s Diaspora, you are especially well-placed to take advantage of these opportunities because of the special links and knowledge which you already have about Africa. This special knowledge gives you a head start and, when combined with the training you have acquired through your international training, you have a winning combination”.