MTHULISI SIBANDA
JOHANNESBURG – MORE than 800 delegates from over 365 companies from 40 countries are lined up to participate at the historic Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Summit scheduled for June in Cape Town, South Africa.
Executives from the world’s most influential consumer and retail brands will attend the event to be held for the first time in Africa.
The theme of this year’s summit is ‘Seizing opportunities in the face of disruption.’
Delegates and speakers will span the entire consumer goods ecosystem including retailers, manufacturers, service providers and trade associations.
The Global Summit, which has become the industry’s most significant annual event, celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.
This year the line-up of speakers will serve to bridge the industry generation gap and will feature both legacy heavy-hitters such as Coca Cola Company Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Muhtar Kent, Tesco CEO Dave Lewis and Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba.
There is also a new generation of young entrepreneurs making waves of their own in the industry, including the CEO of Facebook Africa, Nunu Ntshingila and Affiong Williams, founder and CEO of ReelFruit, an emerging fruit processing company.
Peter Freedman, Managing Director at the CGF, said there had never been a more exciting time to be part of the consumer goods industry.
“The winds of digital change are affecting how we produce, buy, sell and communicate. We want our Global Summit to serve as a forum to discuss how our members can capitalise on this disruption, to make the world a more vibrant, prosperous and sustainable place,” Freedman said.