Tom Peters and Rudy Giuliani share inspirational Jo'burg platform

In addition to addressing the 1500 delegates expected to attend the three-day event, they will also interact on a face-to-face basis with select business people in private "Up Close and Personal" sessions.

"The Summit will provide a once in a life-time opportunity for local business and government executives to listen to some of the world's leading minds on various topics including branding, social economics, land transformation, political and business leadership and more," says Tina Schneidermann, President of Global Leaders, the driver of the Global Leaders Summit series. "Above all, the event promises to enhance African leadership by bringing new perspectives and invaluable insights which harness the personal experiences of overseas and local speakers."

The international business leaders who will address the Global Leaders Africa Summit are:

• Tom Peters, management guru and one of the most influential business thinkers of all time.
• Rudolph Giuliani, Former Mayor of New York.
• Michael Porter, Harvard Business Professor and expert on 'Competitive Strategy'.


• Carly Fiorina, Former Chairperson and CEO, Hewlett-Packard.
• Hernando de Soto, President - Institute for Liberty and Democracy, Peru and author of "The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else".
• Daniel Pink, author of "Free Agent Nation" and "A Whole New Mind".
• Scott Bedbury, Former Marketing Chief for Nike and Starbucks and author of "A New Brand World: 8 Principles for Achieve Brand Leadership in the 21st Century"
• Clayton Christensen, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, author of "Seeing What's Next", and former missionary in Korea

They will be joined on stage by local thought leaders including:

• Dr Charles Villa-Vicencio, Executive Director of the Cape Town-based Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.
• Wiseman Nkuhlu, former economic adviser to President Thabo Mbeki and Chief Executive of NEPAD, current chairman of Pan-African Capital Holdings Ltd.
• Crispin Sonn, general manager, Old Mutual Personal Financial Advice & Private Wealth Management.

'Amazing experience'

According to Schneidermann, being able to hear and see, live and in person, speakers of the calibre of those assembled for the Global Leaders Africa Summit, is an amazing experience.

Hundreds of business executives and politicians from Dubai to Germany, Scandinavia to Australia have already had an opportunity to experience this - but there's an important difference to the Johannesburg event: half the speakers either currently live in or have first hand experience of life in a developing country.

"Their presentations will reflect this experience, ensuring the Summit is truly relevant for local business leaders who operate in both a global and African context as well as government leaders. The remaining speakers - who are highly respected in their fields - will provide an international perspective on issues that impact business and political leaders, regardless of their location," Schneidermann says.

New style of leadership

Welcoming the announcement of the Global Leaders Africa Summit, Dr Wiseman Nkuhlu says: "Africans have grown weary of the hopeless poverty that has characterised their continent for decades, and are taking decisive steps to move away from the problems of the past. Now there is a new style of leadership emerging throughout the African continent - leaders that are committed to democratic values, transparency and to the principles of economic growth."

"South Africa has all the tools to compete in the new global village - an eager workforce, ready to take on any challenge," says global thought leader, Tom Peters.

All the speakers will each address the Summit over the first two days (Michael Porter will only speak on day three). On the final day, Tom Peters will conduct a morning workshop during which he will share what he terms "ultimate leadership success secrets" with delegates and Porter will run an afternoon workshop during which he will share his latest research on the competitiveness of Southern Africa as well as his latest (yet unpublished) thinking of Competitive Strategy for companies.

Global Leaders Africa Summit is supported by the African Leaders Foundation, an organisation established to harness the impact of the Summit across business and government in Africa.

Members of the African Leaders Foundation include Dr Namane Magau, President of the Businesswoman's Association of South Africa and MD, Business and Development Solutions; Ms Philisiwe Buthelezi, CEO, National Empowerment Fund; Professor Stella Nkomo, lecturer in Leadership and Change Management at Unisa's Graduate School of Business Leadership; Dr. Donald Kabuerka, President, African Development Bank; Evelyn Mungai, President, All African Businesswomen's Association; and Summit speakers, Charles Villa-Vincencio, Crispin Sonn and Wiseman Nkuhlu.

Commenting on the establishment of the African Leaders Foundation and the announcement of the Global Leaders Africa Summit, Evelyn Mungai said: "What you have is a very noble idea whose time has come. To unlock people's potential for a better Africa and for a better world is clearly the way to go."

Global dialogue

Her sentiments were echoed by Dr Magau who says discussions on the African and international leadership model is important as it will contribute to new insights of a dynamic world that thrives on innovation and diversity.

She points out that African leaders have unique experiences to bring to the international world. "Their insights reflect their exposure to global dialogue and challenges. In the same way other international leaders bring unique experiences from their environments and benefit from the diverse global leadership perspectives.

"African leadership perspectives have however been neglected in the past," she says and adds that the emerging focus on the development of the continent, creates an opportunity to not only bring to light the rich perspectives, but to extend the richness with evolving leadership notions that are defined as leaders seek and find new answers to changing world economies and political dynamics.

The Global Leaders Africa Summit 2006: Enabling African Leadership, is planned for 20 - 22 June 2006 at The Coca-Cola Dome, Johannesburg, South Africa. For more, go to: www.globalleadersafrica.com.