Sanari Capital at B20 South Africa Launch

The launch of the G20 and the parallel B20 took place on African soil for the first time. The B20 is a crucial forum where business leaders from G20 nations convene and work together to provide insights and recommendations on economic growth and policy development to the G20 Summit in November 2025.

Sanari CEO, Samantha Pokroy, spent an exhilarating day with the B20 South Africa launch in Cape Town. The energy was palpable, the importance of the moment was not lost on anyone and the reminder, courtesy of Strive Masiyiwa, of what Africa can do together when called upon to be part of globally relevant solutions was inspiring.

The theme of Strive’s plenary keynote was “Let’s use strategic collaboration to accelerate growth in Africa”. He shares the incredible story of what was achieved in Africa during the COVID pandemic. Read here, or copied below:

In the speech, I gave the example of how Africans from 55 nations across the continent and different sectors successfully managed the pandemic crisis TOGETHER in 2020-22.

I shared details of how leaders from politics, business, and global philanthropy worked together to protect Africa’s population. Few people were aware of the fact that Africa had the lowest sickness and mortality rates in the world. And let me assure you, it did not happen by itself. Some of us worked 18 hours a day for two years.

We built the largest supply chain and logistics operation in Africa’s history. We mobilised and manufactured vaccines, and other medical supplies. We even exported urgent supplies to our African brothers and sisters in Caribbean nations.

I shared in my remarks that Jamaica’s amazing athletes were enabled to compete in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 because #Africa rushed to export to them the vaccines that they needed to be able to travel and participate. [These were the 2020 Summer Olympics that had been postponed to 2021].

Here’s my point: This is how we, as Africans, should now be collaborating to develop our economies! African economies [all of them] are just too small for a go-it-alone approach.

This is one reason why the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was launched. Together we are a growing market of 1,3bn+ people, with a GDP of about US$3,4 trillion.

I’ll be co-leading the B20 Finance and Infrastructure Task Force which will meet periodically for the next six months or so to come up with actionable [impactful] recommendations to present to the G20 political leaders. The other seven B20 South Africa task forces will focus on:
# Trade and Investment
# Industrial Transformation and Innovation
# Employment and Education
# Energy Mix and Just Transition
# Digital Transformation
# Integrity and Compliance
# Sustainable Food Systems and Agriculture.

I’m not sure of the process but if you think you might have the professional and technical expertise to be considered to serve on one of the eight [volunteer] B20 task forces, you can find out more here: https://www.b20southafrica.org/

We need to leverage our key asset, and it’s not our vast mineral resources. We have something much more valuable than that: we have the world’s youngest and most vibrant human capital.

It is going to be an interesting year!