The CEO of Société Africaine de Recherche Pétrolière et de Distribution (SARPD OIL), Claude Wilfrid Etoka, received last Thursday the award of « Africa Economy Builder » during a ceremony held in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire).

The award ceremony was chaired by Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank, and was attended by nearly 300 African business leaders.

Prior to the awards ceremony, the 6th edition of the African Economic Builders Forum took place, addressing the « challenge of sustainable and inclusive growth facing the private sector in Africa ». During the forum, representatives from the private and public sector as well as NGO’s, discussed issues related to the development of African economic champions that would “contribute substantially to increase African growth and reduce poverty”.

Debates also covered how to reconcile the imperatives of economic efficiency and social solidarity, how to strengthen human capital and help businesses to thrive, how to encourage the development of ambition-driven African champions, how to bolster women’s entrepreneurship and other business related topics.

Commenting on his distinction by the committee of the “Builders of the African Economy”, Mr Etoka dedicated the prize to his home country, Congo, and to “the youth of Congo which I hope will contribute to the economic rise of the nation ”.

Mr Etoka also thanked “the men and women of SARP OIL, who are dedicated at providing to our worldwide clients the best service possible” and he finally praised the clients and partners of his oil trading company, which is amongst the top five in its sector in Africa.

After a fifteen years career in the private sector, Claude Wilfrid Etoka founded SARPD OIL in 2004, enabling the company to become one of the leading oil trading firms of Africa. The company is based in Morocco and has a trading desk in Geneva (Switzerland).

Since 2006, the Builders of Africa Economy Awards, promoted by journalist Michel Russel Lohoré, celebrates the spirit of African entrepreneurship and

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