Events
Growth Summit 2026: Economic Growth in a Changing Geopolitical and Development Landscape
From
To
By invitation
The Policy Center for the New South (PCNS) is pleased to organize, in partnership with the Center for Global Development (CGD) and Growth Teams (GT), the Growth Summit 2026 which will be held under the theme: “Economic Growth in a Changing Geopolitical and Development Landscape” on March 24-26, 2026, at PCNS headquarters, located within the Rabat Campus of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Rabat, Morocco.
Building on the success of the inaugural Growth Summit in October 2024, the second edition aims to identify tangible options and opportunities to promote economic growth in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs)– especially in light of the changing geopolitical and global development landscape. Over the course of three days, we will showcase tangible examples of growth-promoting interventions; explore growth challenges and opportunities in specific regions; and deepen relationships amongst leading academics, policymakers, funders, and practitioners working on growth.
AGENDA
Tuesday, March 24, 2026 | |
| 09:00 – 09:30 | Welcome Coffee |
| 09:30 – 10:00 | Introductory Remarks
Karim El Aynaoui, Executive President, Policy Center for the New South Markus Goldstein, Vice-President and Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development Chema Triki, Managing Director, Growth Teams
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| 10:00 – 11:00 | Keynote 1: Global Geopolitics, Policy Space, and Development Pathways
Moderator Alexia Latortue, Head of Secretariat, Future of Development Cooperation Coalition
Keynote Speaker Mark Malloch-Brown, Former President, Open Society Foundations
Discussant Adeyemi Dipeolu, Former Special Adviser to the President for Economic Matters, Office of the Vice President of Nigeria
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| 11:00 – 11:30 | Coffee Break |
| 11:30 – 12:45 | Parallel Sessions
Parallel Session 1: Back to Basics: Macrofiscal Management and Growth in Africa
Moderator Mark Miller, Senior Research Associate, ODI
Speakers Karim El Aynaoui, Executive President, Policy Center for the New South Mamo Mihretu, Former Governor, National Bank of Ethiopia Kwame Owino, Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Economic Affairs Catherine Pattillo, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
Parallel Session 2: Sector Transformation in Action
Moderator James Foster, Learning Director, Gatsby Africa
Speakers Lucy Kimani, Aquaculture Program Director, Gatsby Africa Bill McRaith, Executive Advisor, Future-Proof Fashion Obaid Ur Rehman, General Manager, SamakGro Limited Kenya
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| 12:45 – 14:45 | Lunch |
| 14:45 – 16:00 | Parallel Sessions
Parallel Session 3: Funding What Matters: High-Growth Firms
Moderator Matthew Guttentag, Alliance Manager, Growth Firms Alliance
Scene-setting Nicholas Colloff, Executive Director, Argidius Foundation James Foster, Learning Director, Gatsby Africa
Lightning talks Joshua Bicknell, Co-Founder and Director, Balloon Ventures Elizabeth Brown, Executive Director, Building Markets US Naomi Kirungu, Director of Marketing and Communications, African Management Institute David Munnich, Executive Director of I&P Acceleration and Development, Investisseurs & Partenaires Maryanne Ochola, Regional Managing Director, Endeavor Kenya
Parallel Session 4: Practical Approaches to Addressing the State Capability Constraint for Growth
Moderator Kartik Akileswaran, Co-Founder, Growth Teams
Speakers Piero Ghezzi, Former Minister of Production of Peru Mark Henstridge, CEO, Oxford Policy Management Anna Lyimo, Director of Special Economic Zones, Tanzania Investment and Special Economic Zones Authority Naim Merimeche, Chief Executive Officer, Agence de Transformation Agricole, Togo
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| 16:00 – 16:30 | Coffee Break |
| 16:30 – 17:30 | Keynote 2: How Africa Works and How Asia Works
Moderator Ken Opalo, Associate Professor, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Keynote Speaker Joe Studwell, Visiting Research Fellow, ODI
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Wednesday, March 25, 2026 | |
| 09:00 – 09:30 | Welcome Coffee |
| 09:30 – 09:45 | Presentation of “Export Boom Atlas”
Jonathan Mazumdar, Co-Founder, Growth Teams
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| 09:45 – 10:30 | Keynote 3: Morocco’s Sectoral Successes – Lessons for Other African Countries
Keynote Speaker Larabi Jaïdi, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South
Discussants Oliver Hanney, Managing Editor, VoxDox Chema Triki, Managing Director, Growth Teams
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| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee Break |
| 11:00 – 12:15 | Parallel Sessions
Parallel session 5: The Energy Gap: Africa’s Growth Constraint
Moderator Casey Dunning Davis, US Policy Director, Energy for Growth Hub
Speakers Moussa Blimpo, Assistant Professor of Economic Inequality and Societies, University of Toronto Ndeye Fatu Koroma, CEO, Millennium Challenge Coordinating Unit Sierra Leone Charles Mensa, Founder & Chairman, Institute of Economic Affairs Gyude Moore, Distinguished Fellow, Energy for Growth Hub
Parallel session 6: Funding What Matters: Growth Policy and Strategy
Moderator Justin Sandefur, Program Director, Global Growth Fund, Coefficient Giving
Scene-setting Lant Pritchett, Visiting Professor, LSE School of Public Policy
Lightning talks Tayo Aduloju, Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Economic Summit Group Bruce Byiers, Associate Director, Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Development, ECDPM Tim O'Brien, Senior Manager of Applied Research, Growth Lab, Harvard University Chema Triki, Managing Director, Growth Teams
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| 12:15 – 14:15 | Lunch |
| 14:15 – 15:30 | Parallel Sessions
Parallel session 7: Industrial Policy and Green Value Chain Opportunities for Africa
Moderator Markus Goldstein, Vice-President and Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
Speakers Mugo Kibati, Chief Executive Officer, Telkom Kenya Tristan Reed, Economist, World Bank Zainab Usman, Senior Research Scholar and Managing Director, Energy Opportunity Lab, Center on Global Energy Policy Nimrod Zalk, Chief Research Officer, Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance
Parallel session 8: Supporting Cities to be Engines of Growth
Moderator Kurtis Lockhart, Founder & Director, Africa Urban Lab
Speakers Solly Angel, Professor of City Planning, NYU Marron Institute Abhas Jha, Manager for Urban Development and Disaster Risk Management, Eastern & Southern Africa, World Bank Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o, Governor, Kisumu County, Kenya Josephine Rogate Kimaro, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Zanzibar Presidential Delivery Bureau
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| 15:30 – 16:00 | Coffee Break |
| 16:00 – 17:00 | Keynote 4: Firms, Innovation, and the State in Today’s Geopolitics
Moderator Lauren Gilbert, Founding Editor-in-Chief, In Development
Keynote Speaker Lindsay Whitfield, Professor of Business and Development Studies, Copenhagen Business School
Discussant Stefan Dercon, Professor of Economic Policy, University of Oxford
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Thursday, March 26, 2026 | |
Field trip at the Atlantic Free Zone, Kenitra Parallel Activities at PCNS: Workshop on developing a network of pro-growth African think tanks Workshop on lessons/good practices/future evolution of growth diagnostics | |
