The third edition of South Africa-Italy Summit took place in Johannesburg – at the Hyatt Regency Johannesburg – on October 18 and 19, 2016.
Strongly convinced of the opportunities for business development offered by South Africa and for potential partnerships among the companies of the two countries, The European House – Ambrosetti constituted the Think Tank and the “South Africa – Italy Summit” three years ago. Following the success of the first two editions of the Summit held in Cape Town, also the Province of Gauteng decided to support, at an institutional level, this initiative.
The goal of the summit – by invitation only and brings together preeminent Italian and South African political and business leaders – is to strengthen strategic and business relationship and provide close interaction between senior decision makers and government officials. Fundamentally: to build a select community of business leaders to grow their companies in the two countries and continents.
The third edition saw the participation of some 250 leaders of Italian and South African companies from 14 countries in Africa and Europe, as well as 6 African and European ministries. Present were the “national champions” who do business in South Africa and the most important South African companies.
Main topics of the 2016 edition:
We are pleased to inform you that Marco Arzilli (Secretary of State for Industry, Handicraft and Trade, Republic of San Marino); Gian Luca Bagnara (Chairman, Texere); Willem Basson (Project Champion for the Rust De Winter Super Agri-Park Project; Deputy-President, Agri-Gauteng); Stefano Bonaccini (Governor, Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy); Paolo Borzatta (Senior Partner, The European House – Ambrosetti); Claudio Ceresani (CEO, Perago); Carmelo Cocuzza (Head of Regional Representation, Southern Africa and Indian Ocean, European Investment Bank); Marcus Cornaro (Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of South Africa); Barbara Creecy (MEC for Finance, Gauteng, South Africa); Barbara Degani (Deputy Minister for Environment and Protection of Land and Sea, Italy); Valerio De Molli (Managing Partner & CEO, The European House – Ambrosetti); Pietro Giovanni Donnici (Ambassador of Italy to South Africa); Alec Erwin (Chairman, Ubu Investment Holdings; former Minister of Public Enterprises and former Minister of Trade and Industry, South Africa); Frederik Geertman (Chief Commercial Officer, UBI Banca); Eleni Giokos (Africa Correspondent, CNNMoney); Luwellyn Tyrone Landers (Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Republic of South Africa); Wendy Luhabe (Chairman, Women Private Equity Fund); David Malemolla Makhura(Premier of Gauteng, South Africa); Peter Malungani (Founder and Executive Chairman, PEU Group); Maurizio Mariano (Attorney, Co-Founder and Director, BBM Law Firm); David Masondo (CEO, Automotive Industry Development Centre – AIDC); Renai Moothilal (Executive Director, National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers – NAACAM); Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah (Minister of International Relations and Cooperation and Deputy Prime Minister, Republic of Namibia); Tseke Nkadimeng (CEO, Afric Oil); Ndaba Ntsele (Chairman and Co-Founder, Pamodzi Investment Group; President, the Black Business Council, South Africa); Claudio Nucci (General Manager, Ansaldo Energia, Italy); Paolo Olivero (Country Leader South Africa, CLN-MA Group); Naledi Pandor (Minister of Science and Technology, Republic of South Africa); Renzo Piraccini (Chairman, Almaverde Bio; Chairman, Macfrut Trade Fair, Italy); Lapo Pistelli (Senior Vice President, ENI; former Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy); Patric Ralotsia (Minister of Agriculture, Botswana); Fabrizio Sala (Deputy Governor for Social Housing, EXPO, International and European Relations and Business Internationalisation, Lombardy Region, Italy); Nomatemba Tambo (Ambassador of South Africa to Italy); Stergomena Tax (Executive Secretary, Southern African Development Community – SADC); Luca Vecchi (Mayor, Municipality of Reggio Emilia, Italy); Fabrizio Zago (CEO, Building Energy); Zamxaka Samhumzi (CEO, Gauteng Growth Development Agency – GGDA); Lindiwe Zulu (Minister for Small Business Development, South Africa) attended the 2016 Summit.
