From 26 to 28 November 2018, the World Bank Group partnered with the Government of Côte d’Ivoire to host the ninth Ease of Doing Business Initiative conference. The conference, whose theme was “Improving the business climate and economic growth challenges in Africa”, gathered reform experts and policy makers to share best practice on Doing Business reforms. It was the first time the EDBI was hosted in West Africa and in a francophone country. It has been decided that Rwanda will host the next EDBI conference in 2019.



What is the EDBI conference?



The World Bank Group’s Advisory programs started supporting the EDBI conference to facilitate the promotion of good practice from the region in implementing business-friendly reforms measured by the Doing Business report. The first conference took place in Port Luis, Mauritius and gathered six countries. The initiative has become a continental learning platform, gathering participants from 32 Sub-Saharan countries at the conference in Abidjan.



Main conference recommendations



Delegates discussed how to integrate identification and implementation of business-friendly reforms in governments’ development plans, how to better measure private sector’s perception of the reform agendas through more efficient monitoring tools and how to better reflect private sector’s voice in the reform process. They also stressed on the need to encourage alternative solutions to SME financing, notably through solutions like venture capital and business angels.

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