HOME > Seminar reports > Cooperate Management > Africa seminars: 451 participants from 40 countries over 21 years.

Africa seminars: 451 participants from 40 countries over 21 years.

The Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) was held in Yokohama in June last year. Japan’s government and private sector came together to air policies in support of sustainable economic growth in Africa. Furthermore, in January of this year, Prime Minister Abe accompanied representatives of private companies from Japan on a visit to Africa. Promotion of business relations by political leaders for the purpose of strengthening business relations between Japan and Africa are also being furthered. PREX has been involved in holding seminars for participants from Africa for over 20 years, but in recent years has been holding seminars covering a wider field, reflecting changes in relations between Japan and Africa.

Holding broad-ranging seminars: from policies to promote small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the industrialization of agriculture

Participating countries in Africa

PREX first received seminar participants from Africa 21 years ago, in 1993. At the beginning, participation was primarily in “aggregate-style” seminars that included target countries besides those in Africa. However, the following years saw the launch of seminars targeting particular countries and regions, such as Kenya, South Africa and Francophone Africa. Currently, between approximately 30 and 50 participants from African countries take part in the seminars each year. The seminars cover a broad range, with topics focusing on such things as policies to promote SMEs, promoting trade investment, solar power generation, developing human resources for industry and boosting productivity. And, as will be introduced later in this report, seminars on the industrialization of agriculture also began this year. One of the seminars for African countries that PREX has held to date is the Small & Medium-Sized Enterprise Policy Seminar for French-speaking Africa, which ran for five years from 2001. Over 50 people from Francophone countries in mainly western Africa (including Senegal, Togo, Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso) took part over the five year period. The content put to use PREX’s experience of having held the Small & Medium-Sized Enterprise Development Policies seminar for several years. At the same time, it aimed to enhance participants’ ability to frame development policies in keeping with the current state of things in Africa, and to have the measures undertaken by each country reflected in policy as they devolve upon the participants. Furthermore, from 2009, the Increasing productivity in small and tiny manufacturing companies in the African region” seminar was held for three years. Participating in the seminar were members of organizations for guiding and promoting productivity enhancement activities for local companies, and executives of businesses actually engaged in such practices on a model basis. The seminar aimed to spread activities that increased productivity among domestic and local companies. From the beginning, PREX had been holding seminars in this field for Asia and Central and South America. But in holding them for African countries, it aimed to have participants create and put into practice activity plans that corresponded to the issues of the countries the participants came from. This meant holding seminars that took into account the structure of industry, policy issues, and the state of businesses in Africa. It also meant taking experience from Japan, and examples in the form of specific measures taken there, and making them usable for African countries.

Toward forging a partnership between Africa and Kansai

For several years, among private enterprises in Japan, businesses have been seen to view African countries as business partners, and have entered into actual business with Africa rather than just CSR activities. Furthermore, as with the promotion of business relations by political leaders that happened with a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit, Japan has come to view Africa as a partner, both diplomatically and in business. The image till now of Africa being a faraway place or region has changed, and the day is not far off when Africa will be regarded as being accessible, like Asia. PREX takes in this change and strives to build a partnership between Kansai and the people and countries of Africa by way of its seminars and exchange projects.

(Emiko Setoguchi, International Department)