The chairman of Barclays Bank of Seychelles, Edmond Houareau, left Seychelles on  Tuesday July 2 to join the chairmen from six other countries at the annual Barclays Africa Chairman's Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

This is the third annual conference of its kind and the first to be held in Africa instead of the usual venue in London. The conference is expected to end on Thursday July 4..

The other chairmen are representing branches from Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.  Zimbabwe is being represented by its acting chairman, following the death of its chairman, David Zamchiya, in a motor accident on June 9.

The proceedings were opened by the chairman of the Barclays Group, Sir Peter Middleton.  Other executives from London who are taking part include Chris Lendrum, chief executive, corporate banking, Dominic Bruynseels, managing director of Barclays Africa, and Charles Middleton, director country management, Barclays Africa.

 MD Dominic Bruynseels said the fact that their group chairman is attending clearly showed the importance of the bank's commitment to Africa.

The main focus of the  conference, he said, would be to debate and discuss the challenges facing Barclays Africa as well as the role the bank and its chairmen could play in support of African development in the global community. 

Initiatives such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) will also be the focus of discussions.

The decision to hold the first Chairman's Conference in Africa, he added, was taken following discussions with the Barclays Africa chairmen who were keen to share their experience with other African businesses.

The  chairmen are also expected to undertake a community visit during their stay.  They will spend time with one of the many organisations supported by Barclays in Kenya as part of the bank's Africa-wide commitment to the communities in which it operates.

Barclays Africa is Africa's leading bank and is part of the Barclays Group.  It is represented in 11 countries - Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, the Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It has in 215 branches and has 170 ATM's as well as 1.5 million accounts across the continent.

Barclays Africa is committed to the communities it serves and in 2001 it launched a Pan-African community support programme.  The bank donates 1% of profit before tax per annum to community causes throughout Africa and the community support programme will receive over £1.5m, this year.

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