AU signs MoU for Development of pan-African agribusiness holding company

African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and Egypt’s SOBEK Trade and Investment Chairperson Manal Abdel Moneim signed a Memorandum of Understanding Jan. 19.

The MoU is for the development of a Pan-African agribusiness holding Company and was inspired by the African Union’s annual themes from 2014 and 2015 ("Year of Agriculture and Food Security" and "Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development Toward Agency 2063," respectively) and the African Agribusiness Strategy.

The MoU, which was signed during a ceremony in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the AU headquarters, lays out a private sector initiative to develop women’s agribusiness and include investment funding and capacity building for agribusinesses throughout Africa.

“I am very pleased that women in the private sector who are doing so well have not forgotten to support and pull other women along. I am very much inspired,” Zuma said at the signing ceremony.