At a recent meeting held in Addis Ababa, Africa’s most-successful business leaders raised nearly $28.5 million to help fight Ebola, according to the BBC.
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One of the business leaders in attendance was Econet Chairman Strive Masiyiwa who said that a number of African companies had contributed to the fund, which will be used to deploy at least 1,000 health workers to the Ebola-affected areas of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.
“This is not just about big business. It’s also about ordinary Africans participating in this. Having started as an African initiative, colleagues in other parts of the world wish to participate. The Ebola crisis is not an African problem, it is a global problem.”
Masiyiwa also added that the money would be managed by the African Development Bank.
Patrice Motsepe (pictured), South Africa’s only Black mining billionaire, also reportedly attended the meeting, saying, “This is a humble initiative by the business community and various others to take the responsibility. We are absolutely confident we will defeat Ebola. Africa will overcome Ebola.”
Motsepe donated $1 million to the Ebola effort last week, according to the Loop.
In addition, African Union Chairman Dlamini Zuma explained that the funds would now be a part of an ongoing program to manage future outbreaks on the continent.
Meanwhile, nearly 5,000 people have been killed by the deadly virus out of 14,000 people who have been infected by the virus, according to the World Health Organization.
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