Juba, September 25th 2018
The Academy for Professional Development has been able to find some heavy weight and committed facilitators for the first day of the conference. And that paid off! After formalities and official opening by the Director of the Board Mr. Peter Mahal it was time for the key note speaker of the day, Mr Simon Deng, Secretary General of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of South Sudan. And off he went! As a businessman himself and as being involved in many aspects the private sector faces, Mr. Simon Deng knows as no other what challenges the private sector faces. He painted a picture that the participants clearly recognized and he perfectly put the balls ready for the other facilitators to address the main topics of the day.
Mr. Ahmed Takoy (CEO Kush Bank South Sudan) was the first and went deeper into the topic “associations”. The Kush Bank is an active member of the bankers association and Mr. Akoy explained us about the how’s and why’s of forming an Association.
Second was Mr. Light Wilson Aganwa, consultant at Capacity Development Center. Mr. Light talked
about the role of NGO’s and the UN and how they relate to the development of the private sector. Undoubtedly the NGO’s and the UN play an important role in the fragile country of South Sudan and Mr. Light showed us the general goals and the mandates that the mentioned organizations adapted. Some critical notes and suggestions were ventilated on how the NGO’s and UN could contribute more to the development of the private sector.
After lunch the above mentioned matters were discussed in subject groups. Fresh ideas and initiative sprouted from that, more will be published about that in a later stage.
Two more workshops were conducted in the afternoon.
First was Mr. Johnny Saverio who as a well known South Sudanese lawyer went deeper into the legal aspects of being a private businessman. From his experience as legal counselor he could tell us much about the practical issues that a businessman has to face in South Sudan where laws and institutions struggle to become mature. With examples he confronted us with various problematic areas where good progress could be made by the institutions, and where private businesses should be aware about. With a good portion of humor and with the skills of a good lawyer he took the audience along the path of legal challenges that businesses face day by day to end with some good advice for businesses and institutes alike.
Mr. Aguil Bangel closed the row of first day facilitation with the workshop “Education for sale? Re-invent the school!” He made the bridge towards the second day of the conference where we will talk further about the challenges that the private sector and the educational institutes face, namely how to organize and finance Technical and Vocational Training and Education (TVET) in South Sudan. One
organizational form that is used is the Private Public Institute where members of the board of the educational institute come from the private sector (typical through their branch organizations and associations), the public sector (e.g. ministry of education) and the educational sector (mostly staff of the school and/or educational associations). Mr. Aguil suggested a CPPI whereas the C stands for
Community.
To great disappointment of the participants there was no time for further discussions.
They urged the organization to make time for discussion for the above mentioned topics on the second day. Marina, organizer and facilitator, said that the educational aspects will be discussed further the second day of the conference and has (for this congress) priority over matters like laws, taxes and licenses. However, we challenge anyone to take it up from here.
After a good day we finished with a closure tea where further discussions and networking took place. It was encouraging to see the private sector and the public sector mixing and exchanging ideas. That is one of the main goals of this conference.
For the second day we have again a teasing program with serious facilitators.
Don’t miss it!