(Ecofin Agency) - Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya are the countries with the most laureate nominees in the “Choiseul 100 Africa 2018 – African Economic Leaders for Tomorrow”, published by Institut Choiseul, a think tank based in Paris.

Ten young Moroccans are laureates in this yearly ranking that "identifies and ranks the 200 young African leaders of 40 years old and below, who will play a major role in the development of Africa in the near future". Nigeria comes second with 9 future economic leaders, ahead of South Africa (8), Kenya (7), Côte d’Ivoire (5) and Algeria (5).

The institute based its ranking on three main criteria: have the nationality of one of the 54 African countries, be less than 40 years old and be an active contributor to economic development in Africa. The institute also required the help of experts and specialists of the African continent to realize its ranking.

To determine the ranking of each laureate in the final ranking, many weighted criteria were taken into account namely, image and reputation, influence and network, potential and leadership, education and competence, power and position held.

Leading the rankings comes Sahbi Othmani (photo), managing director of Nouvelle Conserverie Algérienne de Rouiba (NCA-Rouiba), leader of Algeria’s fruit drink manufacturing. This young leader was the fourth and sixth in the 2017 and 2016 editions respectively. He is followed by Kabiru Rabiu (CEO of BUA Group/ Nigeria), Sébastien Kadio-Morokro (CEO of Pétro Ivoire/ Côte d’Ivoire), Zikue Siyotula (CEO of Siyotula Holdings/ South Africa), James Mworia (CEO of Centum/ Kenya), Abayomi Awobokun (CEO of Enyo Retail& Supply/ Nigeria), Jules Ngankam (Deputy managing director and finance manager of African Guarantee Fund/ Cameroon), Idriss Bensmaïl (Deputy managing director of BMCI/ Morocco) and Leïla Bouamatou (managing director of Banque de Mauritanie). The Gabonese Akim Daouda, deputy managing director of Gabon Power Company, closes the top 10.

Find here the “Choiseul 100 Africa 2018 – African Economic Leaders for Tomorrow”