Following the sudden death of its outgoing president, the irremovable Djibril Bopaka, the National Union of Congolese Economic Operators (UNOC) elected on November 11, 2021 in Brazzaville, during an extraordinary general assembly, Dr Jean Daniel Ovaga, head of the Sécurex Clinic at the head of the employers’ organization.
The election of Jean Daniel Ovaga to the presidency of the Congolese employers constitutes, in the eyes of several observers of the business world, a renewal on the Congolese employers’ chessboard. He will be responsible for settling the issue of domestic debt which penalizes many Congolese economic operators and expressing the entrepreneurs’ desire for progress, contributing to constructive social dialogue, and working to adapt the social protection system. , to promote and develop a continuing training policy, in particular for young entrepreneurs, notwithstanding the thorny issue of employer contributions.
In addition, Jean Daniel Ovaga’s mission is to ensure that employers operating in the Congo and statutory members of UNOC have the best possible conditions to prosper and make the country prosper. The organization brings together employers with activities in the Congo as well as their sectoral associations, and intervenes with the public authorities, agents of economic life and public opinion, in order to promote a business environment that is conducive to prosperity and responsible economic development.
The new boss of the Congolese bosses aims to innovate the employers’ organization, in particular with a view to reviving the economic fabric shaken by several endogenous and exogenous crises accentuated by the Covid-19 health crisis. In his vision of shared prosperity, he intends to make the UNOC the reference and the point of convergence for employers and their sectoral associations, which will contribute concretely, ultimately, to the credibility and effectiveness of its interventions and through its approach that promotes constructive social dialogue, the growth and success of its members, as well as a better understanding of the business environment and issues affecting companies. UNOC, in the vision of its new boss, aspires to a Congo of enviable and inclusive economic prosperity. To meet this challenge, Dr Jean Daniel Ovaga intends to articulate his vision on the following cardinal principles: passion, commitment, rigor, pragmatism, openness, search for a solution, solidarity, loyalty and desire to be of added value for the members of the employers’ organization, of which he now has the heavy and exhilarating task of leading.
In a telephone interview with ‘Financial Afrik’ a few hours just after his election, Jean Daniel Ovaga told us about the convictions that will drive his action at the head of the UNOC, because he believes the level and quality of The life of a population depends in the first place on its economic prosperity. Human capital, entrepreneurship, innovation, international trade and a favorable business environment are the primary levers of economic development, he says. The Congo, he said, will develop and prosper through the use of its best assets.
For the new president, economic dynamism is a fundamental vehicle of sustainable development, because it directly participates in social progress and stimulates technological investments favorable to the protection of the environment and the business climate. The employers, he tells us, will play their part. Because for Jean Daniel Ovaga, UNOC is the spokesperson par excellence of Congolese employers, both in the economic and political world and in the general public. As an opinion leader in employer policy, she makes a decisive contribution to the creation of optimal framework conditions for the Congolese economic place and to the achievement of a market economy that is both liberal and social.
Who is Jean Daniel Ovaga?
A graduate in medical sciences from the Higher Institute of Health Sciences of the Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzaville, in 1989, Jean Daniel Ovaga is a committed actor for the development of the health sector in his country and in Africa. A commitment that led this doctor, born in 1961 in the Congolese capital, to assume very early professional, political and corporate responsibilities.
Thus, after obtaining his doctorate, in 1990 he was appointed city council physician for Brazzaville with the rank of health adviser to the mayor of the Congolese capital. From this administrative observatory of the local health system, Dr Jean Daniel Ovaga, who will be appointed, one year later, director of the municipal medico-social center, will draw lessons to improve, during his four years of practice, the quality of services. granted to these fellow citizens within this health unit.
Released from this position, he temporarily joined the services of the Presidency of the Republic as a doctor before serving in the Senate from 1994 to 1997 as a medical consultant. Concurrently with these functions, he will be appointed secretary of the Health Commission of the former Customs Union of Central African States (UDAC). A position that will allow him to confront the decision-making mysteries of the health systems of the sub-region and to be, subsequently, the interlocutor of the various organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Africa zone, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Program (WFP).
On the strength of these experiences, Jean Daniel Ovaga subsequently freed himself from administrative burdens, to achieve his true worth. Still working with the elders of the nation, in 1996 he created the Securex Medical Clinic in Brazzaville, of which he is currently the general manager. Of the various deadly conflicts that Congo-Brazzaville will experience, he will coordinate the activities of the committee.
