Around 300 participants were welcomed by Prof. Jürgen Bode, Vice President for Internationalisation to the third conference on “Universities, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development in Africa“ (10/11 November) at the Sankt Augustin Campus.  As well as the strong content, the conference offered the opportunity for professional and personal networking. Numerous guests from Africa were able to take part thanks to the sponsorship funding to the H-RBS from the “German-African University Partnership Platform for the Development of Entrepreneurs and Small/Medium Enterprises” and external sponsors. – There was no shortage of fun either: On the first evening, DJ Obo from Dusseldorf played some lively African rythms, while on 11/11, the guests experienced the start of the carnival in Bonn.

The H-BRS is now firmly established in Germany when it comes to practical teaching and research and its connections to company networks in Africa.

The conference was organized by Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences and is part of the project “German-African University Partnership Platform for the Development of Entrepreneurship and SMEs”, financed by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and conducted through the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences together with its partners, the University of Cape Coast in Ghana and the University of Nairobi in Kenya.

The conference continued the successful tradition of the previous years and provided a unique platform in Germany, allowing the exchange among businesses and between industry and academia from Germany and Africa. The conference highlighted the issues entrepreneurship and SMEs in Africa, market entry and development in Africa, international business between Germany and Africa, as well as development of enterprises and the training and recruitment of qualified personnel. Consideration was given especially for the opportunities of cooperation between universities and businesses.

Please find below the Conference proceedings.

The conference theme was structured into the following seven subthemes: