In this interview with It’s Africa’s Time in partnership with the UN Development Programme, Issam Darwish, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of IHS Group, talks about how large corporations can help to develop the African economies in which they are active, in parallel with their own evolution. Issam Darwish comments that in Nigeria, 90% of all businesses are SMEs thus it is vital to understand the issues facing these SMEs and how to help them grow to the next level.

Issam Darwish comments on the importance of government policy, the private sector and the banking sector in developing these enterprises. He emphasises the need to design and tailor different packages to support these SMEs and to help them grow. Darwish says that Africa won’t move to the next level without these developments. Darwish runs IHS Towers, the largest mobile telecommunications infrastructure provider in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.