By: Nana
Appiah Acquaye
Ishmael
Yamson & Associates has formally launched the Ishmael Yamson Foundation at
the 12th edition of the Ishmael Yamson & Associates Business Roundtable,
held at the Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra. The launch marked a defining
moment for Business Roundtable 2026, positioning the Foundation as a dedicated
vehicle for generational strategy, leadership development, and the preparation
of young African talent for the demands of a rapidly changing global economy.
Held
under the theme “Unlocking the Next Quarter Century: Harnessing Africa’s
Digital Infrastructure, Trade & Integration, Energy & Industry,
Governance, and Societal Development for Global Relevance,” BRT 2026 convened
more than 400 in-person participants, including government officials, captains
of industry, development partners, policy leaders, financiers, innovators,
members of academia, civil society, and a global television and digital
audience.
In
his welcome address, Ishmael Yamson Jnr, CEO of Ishmael Yamson &
Associates, said BRT 2026 represented a decisive shift in the purpose and scale
of the platform. He described the Roundtable not merely as a forum for
dialogue, but as a strategic convening for corporate leaders prepared to shape
Africa’s next quarter-century through execution, enterprise, and continental
collaboration.
“The Foundation is our dedicated vehicle for generational strategy
and execution. Through structured incubation and rigorous strategic training,
it will equip the brilliant young minds who will scale our agritech solutions,
write our sovereign AI algorithms, and govern our cross-border institutions.
These are the ecosystem builders of tomorrow,” Mr. Yamson said.
As
part of its first steps, the Ishmael Yamson Foundation sponsored the attendance
of 100 young delegates at BRT 2026, underscoring its commitment to widening
access to high-level leadership platforms and creating pathways for emerging
African professionals to engage directly with decision-makers.
Mr.
Yamson noted that Africa’s demographic future demands urgent private-sector
leadership in talent development. With the continent projected to have a
workforce of 1.6 billion young people by 2050, he called on business leaders to
move beyond short-term corporate survival and assume responsibility for
building the ethical, highly skilled leadership base required to manage
Africa’s future enterprises, institutions, and cross-border partnerships.
He
further challenged African-owned businesses to become the primary financiers of
the continent’s future, noting that BRT 2026’s major partners, including Huawei
and Gold Fields, had demonstrated confidence in the platform’s vision.
He called for indigenously owned enterprises to follow that example by
investing in the people, systems, and institutions that will secure Africa’s
long-term competitiveness.
Delivering
the keynote address, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, MP, Minister for Finance,
commended Ishmael Yamson & Associates for twelve years of consistency and
intellectual leadership. He said Africa stands at a defining historical
crossroads and must use the next quarter-century to convert potential into
production, value addition, competitiveness, and shared prosperity.
“The next quarter of a century presents Africa with perhaps its
greatest opportunity since political independence,” Dr. Forson said. “The
defining question before this generation is whether Africa will finally become
a production and value-addition force within the world economy.”
The
Minister stressed that Africa must no longer remain a passive consumer in the
digital age. He called for a continental digital strategy that supports
regional data centres, affordable broadband expansion, cross-border digital
payment systems, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence readiness, and digital
skills for millions of young Africans.
He
also emphasised the centrality of energy security, industrialisation, trade
integration, governance reform, and human-capital development to Africa’s
transformation. According to Dr. Forson, the continent’s global relevance will
not be gifted to it, but must be built deliberately through integration,
industrialisation, digital transformation, strong institutions, strategic
leadership, and a new mindset of partnership rather than dependency.
BRT
2026 placed particular focus on the urgency of moving Africa from the export of
raw materials and data toward retained value, competitive production, and
sovereign capability. Discussions at the Roundtable highlighted the need for
African businesses to use the African Continental Free Trade Area as a platform
for building pan-African joint ventures, integrated supply chains, modern
financial infrastructure, and globally competitive enterprises.
The
launch of the Ishmael Yamson Foundation therefore stands as one of the central
outcomes of BRT 2026. Its mission aligns with the Roundtable’s broader call for
African leaders to move from potential to performance by investing in talent,
strengthening institutional capacity, and preparing a new generation capable of
leading in agritech, digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence,
industrial policy, cross-border commerce, governance, and sustainable
development.
Closing
his welcome remarks, Mr. Yamson described the Business Roundtable as a
corporate war room for continental sovereignty and urged participants to step
beyond national silos, syndicate capital, structure sovereign supply chains,
and execute with urgency.
BRT
2026 reaffirmed Ishmael Yamson & Associates’ role as a leading platform for
high-level corporate thought leadership in Ghana and across Africa. Through the
Ishmael Yamson Foundation, the organisation is extending that mandate into a
long-term institutional commitment to leadership development, youth
empowerment, strategic training, and the building of Africa’s next generation
of ecosystem builders.
