Supercharging Africa’s Future: Responsible Growth and Ethical Development at Scale
September 23 @ 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Africa has the world’s youngest, most rapidly growing population – by 2050 one in four people will be African. The question facing business leaders, policymakers, and social innovators is who this growth will benefit, who it will leave behind, and what obligations come with building infrastructure that billions of people will depend on.
The Social Innovation and Change Initiative (SICI) is delighted to host Hassanein Hiridjee, CEO of AXIAN Group, for a conversation on what it takes to build enterprises that generate both returns and shared prosperity. AXIAN is a pan-African group spanning energy and digital infrastructure, telecommunications, and financial services. That expansion has been built around a commitment to what the group calls “a fair, sustainable and inclusive growth model.”
During this event, participants will explore:
- The standards a company sets for itself on governance and sustainability when operating across markets.
- The trade-offs leaders face when returns, regulation, and social obligation pull in different directions.
- What the future of Africa could and should look like, and who has a role in shaping it.
This session is designed for students and practitioners working on ventures, policy, or capital allocation in emerging markets, as well as anyone thinking seriously about the ethics of building at scale.
About Hassanein Hiridjee
After graduating from the École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP Europe) in 1997, Hassanein Hiridjee returned to Madagascar, his homeland, and gradually began taking the reins of the family’s half-century-old business. In 2015, he founded the AXIAN Group with his brother Amin Hiridjee, firmly rooted in the belief that the challenges of Africa’s development called for a virtuous and inclusive economic progress.
Bringing together 9,200 employees across 21 countries, the Group is focused on becoming an African champion in key sectors contributing to the sustainable transformation of the continent’s economies: telecoms, financial services, energy, digibank & fintech and real estate. The Group has experienced rapid growth – reaching over USD 2.75 Billion in turnover in 2024.
The vision embraced by Hassanein Hiridjee embodies innovation and positive impact, reflecting AXIAN Group’s commitment to the principles of the United Nations Global
Compact. He actively participates in the Africa Business Leaders Coalition (ABLC) initiative, alongside other African leaders, advocating public-private partnerships to develop tangible solutions that promote climate action and sustainable growth on the continent. In August 2025, he was appointed to the Supervisory Board of Jumia, joining the governance of one
of Africa’s most prominent technology companies and leading e-commerce platform.
Through the AXIAN Foundation, he oversees initiatives to protect vulnerable populations. Additionally, as a contemporary art collector, he founded the H Foundation in 2017. Officially recognized as a public utility in Madagascar since 2018, it supports African artistic creation through two exhibition spaces in Antananarivo and Paris.
In 2022, Hassanein was awarded the CEO of the Year prize at the annual Africa CEO Forum organized by the Jeune Afrique group in partnership with Mazars. Hassanein Hiridjee is committed to honouring this distinction by pursuing his actions to promote the continent’s economic and social development.