WTCA focuses on business opportunities in Africa at its 2022 general assembly

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

The WTCA will host its annual 2022 WTCA General Assembly (GA) with a focus on business opportunities in Africa.


This year’s event will once again be complimentary and held virtually with an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered B2B matchmaking platform to maximize time spent establishing business connections between attendees around the world.


Hosted by the WTCA team in New York, the business conference will be held from Monday, April 18 to Friday, April 22.

The GA will bring together WTCA Members and their global business networks consisting of leaders from business, government, academia, media and international organizations, reflecting the WTCA’s diverse global footprint.



With the theme of “Exploring New Horizons,” the 2022 GA promises to be a unique and engaging week-long event, demonstrating the strength of the WTCA network and offering attendees the opportunity to learn from leading experts and connect with each other virtually through the matchmaking platform.

John E. Drew, Chair, Board of Directors of the WTCA for the second year in a row, said that they are pleased to host the GA virtually and offer AI-powered B2B matchmaking to all attendees free of charge.


This platform is an efficient and effective way to find business prospects around the world, and has become a huge benefit to enhance their network’s ability to connect and facilitate trade for our Members and their business networks.

Also, with a renewed focus on business in Africa, we hope this GA provides a glimpse into the opportunities available at next year’s GA – which will be hosted in Accra, Ghana by World Trade Center Accra.

This year’s GA will feature two half-days of livestream programming, kicking off on April 19 with WTCA Members-only programming to provide updates from the WTCA Board of Directors and senior leadership, as well as from the nine Member Advisory Councils (MACs) covering Agriculture, Business Clubs, Conferences & Exhibitions, Real Estate and Trade Services.



On April 20, the last day of the GA’s mainstage programming – which is open to all attendees – will include a keynote address with Atsuko Toda, Acting Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development of the African Development Bank; a fireside chat with Soji Awogbade, Partner and Lead of the International Trade, Energy & Natural Resources and Agriculture Practice Groups at ǼLEX, on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA); as well as a panel discussion on “Africa, Continent of Opportunity” with WTCA Members from Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mauritius and Nigeria.

The day will conclude with the kick-off to the 2023 General Assembly. Livestream programming is open to all attendees unless otherwise noted for “WTCA Members only” and will be hosted in English with simultaneous translations in French and Spanish.

Available to GA attendees 24/7 for the whole week from April 18 to April 22 across all time zones, the AI-powered matchmaking platform uses an algorithm to collect and process individual interests of every event attendee, providing them with the means to discover the right content, foster meaningful connections with relevant matches and achieve individual goals.



The tool also has the ability to learn from attendee interactions, further improving match relevance in real time and scheduling virtual one-on-one meetings instantaneously.


Business sectors represented by attendees at the 2022 GA include: Agriculture; Automation & Automotive; Construction & Engineering; Energy, Power, Gas, Petroleum, Renewables; Fintech, Enterprise Software, Data, IT; Food & Beverage; Metals & Mining; Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Medical Devices; Real Estate Development, Rental, Leasing, Sales; Tourism & Hospitality; and Transportation, Logistics, Telecommunications.

With the addition of the AI-powered matchmaking tool to our annual offerings, the association now provides 24/7 matchmaking on a global level, across all industries and sectors, said Robin van Puyenbroeck, Executive Director-Business Development of the WTCA.


The platform is seamless and easy-to-use, allowing attendees to participate in relevant B2B meetings while its algorithm does the work for them. They strongly encourage all businesses looking for new connections to participate in this year’s GA. It is an opportunity you do not want to miss.

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