Maryanne Maina

Maryanne Maina

Africa is rich, but Africans are poor. This is the view of the Nepad (New Partnership for Africa's Development) Business Foundation, which is shared by Stanley Subramoney, who chairs the operations committee.

Subramoney is the joint deputy chief executive of PriceWaterhouseCoopers and says: "Africa's time has come. The 21st century belongs to Africans and we are doing it for ourselves."

Some of the key challenges that stand in the way of the continent realising its full potential and its people accessing these riches are "huge infrastructure backlogs, poor capital access, lack of information and unfair trade regimes around the world with subsidies which have posed several challenges for the African entrepreneur," he said.

"Through the foundation we want to set up a fund to promote SMME's and SME's (small businesses) in Africa. To enhance them and grow their skills we need to work on various methods to encourage foreign direct investment, create jobs and grow the economies," he said.

Subramoney sits on the executive committee of the African Leadership Team at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Mncane Mthunzi, managing director of the Black Management Forum, says Subramoney is a "role model that personifies excellence". He said: "Stanley demonstrates exceptional leadership in spite of being world-class in his own right and commanding continental and global respect. He still finds time to contribute to the South African transformation agenda."