Three former students of the University of Cambridge came together on 20/08/2024 to give circular economy (CE) a much-needed boost from the UK and the UAE. Dr Samsurin Welch, Associate, Circular Economy Centre, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, and Mariama Sonko, Sustainability Adviser of Jula Consultancy (UAE), plus our President and CEO Dr Karamo NM Sonko were guest speakers of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. BADEA is rated AA by S&P, Aa1 by Moody’s and AAA by JCR. The topic was “The Circular Economy in Africa and the Middle East”. A large number of participants attended from BADEA’s present headquarters in Riyadh and offices in Cairo, Dubai, Rwanda, etc.  Dr Samsurin and Ms. Sonko made a very eloquent case for CE, what it is and what it is not, presented numerous case studies, and related it to the UNSDGs and Africa’s Agenda 2063. In my closing remarks I stressed the tradition of CE in Africa and Asia, especially in rural Africa where I grew up and in the nomadic cultures where I spent several years of my career. The presentation was welcomed with overwhelming enthusiasm and lasted for almost two hours instead of the planned one hour. The participants wanted an even longer session and raised many concerns that the United Nations system, national governments, private companies and NGOs should address in order to move the circular economy agenda forward to the extent that the world desperately needs it for our common good!