Tricontinental Dialogue in Rabat: Geopolitics at the Heart of Business Decisions

Following the Moroccan leg of the "Tricontinental Dialogue" featuring high-level speakers, Hugues Levecq and Thomas Friang reflect on this unique initiative and the key takeaways from the conference.

1- The Tricontinental Dialogue is the flagship event of the Institute for Geopolitics & Business. What exactly are these events that you organize in Europe, Africa, and Asia?

Thomas Friang - ESSEC has a major asset: with its campuses in Europe, Africa, and Asia, the school stands on the front lines of the world’s growing brutalization. This gives us a high-quality vantage point from which to observe how geopolitical shocks are transforming the global business environment.

When the Institute for Geopolitics & Business was created as part of the TRANSCEND plan, we therefore decided -with Professors Colson and Nestorovic, the Institute’s Academic Co-Directors - to build on this unique footprint by creating the “Tricontinental Dialogue.”

Each year, we select a theme, a common thread, which we examine through three regional perspectives. This approach - from Europe, Africa, and Asia - provides our students, alumni, and partners with particularly valuable insights.

For the first edition of the Tricontinental Dialogue, we are addressing the following question: how is the systemic rivalry between Washington and Beijing reshaping business?

From Cergy to Singapore, via Rabat, we see just how much this issue occupies boards and executive committees. It is therefore essential that the ESSEC community gain a deep understanding of this topic.

2- The African Conference of the Tricontinental Dialogue has just taken place on ESSEC’s campus in Rabat. How does this event fit into ESSEC Africa’s strategy?

Hugues LEVECQ - The African Conference of the Tricontinental Dialogue fits fully within the strategy of ESSEC Business School - Africa Campus, which aims to position the campus as a leading platform for dialogue between academia, public decision-makers, and economic actors.

Through initiatives such as this one, we reaffirm our ambition to actively contribute to the understanding of major geopolitical transformations and their impact on African businesses. It also provides our students and our ecosystem with direct access to high-level reflections that are closely connected to the realities of the continent.

More broadly, this event reflects our determination to position Africa as a full participant in international debates by fostering structured exchanges between Africa, Europe, and Asia at the heart of the Tricontinental Dialogue.

3- Bringing together high-level speakers from both the private sector and the diplomatic world, the African Conference of the Tricontinental Dialogue was particularly rich. What key lessons do you take away from these discussions?

H.L. - What stands out above all is the convergence of analyses regarding the need for Africa to strengthen its capacity for strategic anticipation in an increasingly fragmented international environment.

The discussions highlighted that, rather than being merely exposed to great-power rivalries, the continent retains significant room for maneuver to leverage these tensions in support of its own development.

Another key point concerns the central role of economic actors - particularly companies and African financial institutions - in accelerating industrialization and regional integration. Finally, the importance of developing a genuine culture of geopolitical analysis within organizations was unanimously emphasized.

4- Three keynote speakers came to ESSEC Africa’s campus in Rabat to offer an African perspective on a global issue: what role should companies play between the competing powers of the United States and China? What were the main takeaways from this conference?

T.F. - The keynote speakers at our African Conference offered perspectives that were both rich and highly complementary.

Her Majesty King Mohammed VI’s Ambassador-at-Large, Assia Bensalah Alaoui, set the stage with great clarity: CEOs are not only facing the brutalization of the world; they are facing a genuine “polycrisis,” where technological disruptions, ecological crises, and geopolitical ruptures reinforce one another. In this context, economic leaders have only one certainty: their mission is to manage uncertainty. This framework was essential to understanding all the dimensions of Sino-American tensions: it is a geopolitical rivalry, but also a technological competition - and it also concerns the type of global leadership that will shape the ecological transition.

With this framework in place, Amine Bouabid, CEO of Bank of Africa, addressed the main geo-economic challenge facing the African continent. His pan-African banking group operates in 32 of the 54 countries of the African Union, placing it in a strong position to highlight a central issue: without regional economic integration, the continent becomes even more vulnerable to geopolitical shocks with major economic consequences. More fundamentally, one key takeaway is that the Sino-American rivalry is pushing African countries to “choose a side.” This dynamic exerts entropic pressure on regional integration.

In this context, what playbook do African CEOs have to grow their businesses in an increasingly fragmented world? This was the focus of the presentation by Yassir ZOUAOUI, the newly appointed Managing Partner of McKinsey’s Casablanca office. We were very proud to welcome this ESSEC alumnus. He began by quantifying the scale of the challenge: the brutalization of the world has an economic impact twice as severe on the African economy (-4% of GDP) as it does on the global economy (-2% of GDP). He then shared what may be the most valuable advice given to executive committees seeking to adapt: move from forecast to foresight. Linear business planning does not work in a non-linear economic environment that is far more politicized. Companies must therefore shift from a model focused on short-term forecasting to one based on scenario-based geopolitical foresight.

5- Following the African Conference of the Tricontinental Dialogue, the next step will be the Asian Conference on June 10 in Singapore, on ESSEC APAC’s campus. What do you expect from this final stage, nine months after the European Conference held in Cergy?

T.F - I’m very much looking forward to it! The Asian Conference of the Tricontinental Dialogue, on June 10 at ESSEC’s Asia-Pacific campus, will allow the entire school community to hear from fascinating personalities. I’m thinking in particular of Ambassador Bilahari Kausikan, who will be our first keynote speaker.

Kausikan served as Singapore’s ambassador to the United States, the United Nations, and Russia. He now sits on the boards of major financial companies. He perfectly embodies the “Geopolitics & Business” mindset - someone capable of advising both the Prime Minister of a major economic power and the CEO of a global insurance company.

By concluding this Tricontinental Dialogue, we will realize that Europe, Africa, and Asia face the same dilemma. On the one hand, our security largely depends on Washington. And on the other, our growth strongly depends on Beijing.

As the rivalry between these two superpowers intensifies, our companies are increasingly caught in “the Thucydides Trap” described by Graham Allison.

6- In a year’s time, the Tricontinental Dialogue will return to ESSEC Africa. What themes would you like to see on the agenda for the 2027 edition?

H.L. - For the 2027 edition, it would be particularly relevant to deepen themes that are both strategic and operational for African stakeholders.

I am thinking in particular of economic and industrial sovereignty, regional value chains, and the new dependencies linked to the energy and technological transitions.

It would also be interesting to explore more concretely Africa’s role in the reshaping of global balances, with a focus on key sectors such as infrastructure, finance, and innovation.

Finally, we aim to strengthen the bridges between academic reflection and decision-making by integrating more feedback from executives who are directly confronted with these transformations.

ABOUT THE ESSEC INSTITUTE FOR GEOPOLITICS & BUSINESS

Created in 2024 by ESSEC, the Institute for Geopolitics & Business examines how geopolitical shocks reshape companies’ economic models.

Operating across ESSEC Business School’s campuses in France, Morocco, and Singapore, it brings a tri-continental perspective to what drives corporate competitiveness in the post-globalization era: vigilance, resilience, independence.

It feeds into ESSEC’s degree programs, executive education, and research to foster a new generation of geopolitics-proof business leaders capable of steering and growing companies amid an increasingly brutalized world.

Rooted in ESSEC’s academic excellence, the Institute draws on 4 flagship centers:

- the IRENE Center for Negotiation & Mediation,

- the Center for Geopolitics, Defense & Leadership,

- the Center for European Law & Economics, and

- the Chair Business & Industry in Africa.