22nd Jan 2015 The Africa against Ebola solidarity trust, a private sector initiative, has announced PriceWaterhouseCoopers as part of other top African businesses that will support the African Union Support for Ebola in West Africa program. PwC will provide financial and risk management and fund administration services to the Trust, at a significant discount to their normal fees, as part of their in-kind contribution to the initiative.
Some of the other members of the group read like a who is who of Africa’s biggest businessmen and billionaire entrepreneurs. The list includes names such as Aliko Dangote of Dangote Group, Strive Masiyiwa of Econet Wireless, Phuthuma Nhleko of MTN, Patrice Motsepe of African Rainbow Minerals, Cristina Stenberg and Yusuf Manji. Top corporate institutions that form part of the group include Nedbank, Standard Chartered Bank and Old Mutual.
The AU Support for Ebola in West Africa project has seen close to 1,000 African health workers deployed to combat the Ebola virus in the three most affected Countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the Chairperson of the AU Commission in her response to the information is quoted as saying “When African business gathered in Addis Ababa on 8 November 2014 and pledged to partner us in eradicating this dreadful disease, I requested from them not only cash, but also their competences in project management, logistics, financial management and governance”.
The Trust’s ultimate goal is to build a resilient Africa, which is able to immediately respond to emergencies and pandemics. Strive Masiyiwa the founder of Econet wireless, is quoted as saying “We seek not only to confront Ebola today, but to ensure that the pandemic does not resurface tomorrow. We fully support the AU’s efforts to bolster Africa’s health services infrastructure to address fault lines that make such epidemics not only possible, but probable,”