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Ph:DR: A Market Days to attract national and foreign direct investments in Africa.
From November 8-10, investors weighing their weight in gold will flock to the Palais des Congrès in Marrakech, Morocco, to participate in Africa’s number one investment marketplace. This year the focus will be on “Unlocking Africa’s Value Chains”. The Africa Investment Forum plays a vital role in attracting domestic and foreign direct investment to Africa.
The Africa Investment Forum plays a vital role in attracting domestic and foreign direct investment to Africa. This multi-stakeholder, multi-disciplinary platform advances projects toward bankable stages, raises capital and accelerates the financial close of investment transactions.
Chairman Emeritus and Group Managing Director of the Trade and Development Bank, Admassu Tadesse, describes the Africa Investment Forum Market Days as an action-oriented gathering focused on getting things done.
“Before the creation of the Africa Investment Forum in 2018, we had reached a situation of almost paralysis due to analysis”, of discourse on the needs and challenges of investment in Africa, confided Mr. . Tadesse during the 2022 edition. “But when Mr. Adesina [le président de la Banque africaine de développement] spoke about the Africa Investment Forum, which would focus on business networks, business processing and transactions, I said to myself: here is finally a conference with less talks and more action, with transactional projects revolutionaries; more prospecting so that things finally move on the ground,” he enthused.
“I found the breadth and depth of participation much greater than I expected,” said Ken Shibusawa, CEO of Shibusawa and Co, during Market Days 2022. Mr. Shibusawa felt that his long journey for the Africa Investment Forum was well worth it, with a good match in terms of interests. “Our mission is to provide impact investments in Africa… we rely on this cooperation,” he said.
He expressed hope that the 2023 edition will offer more opportunities for interaction with young entrepreneurs, “with Africa, with Japan and other countries”.
Mr. Shibusawa, who is also vice president of the Africa project team at Keizai Doyukai, announced earlier this year that a new company, &Capital Inc., had been established in January 2023 to promote Japanese investment in Africa . Keizai Doyukai is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization that brings together nearly 1,400 senior executives from a thousand Japanese companies.
“I am here just looking for new investors for our company because we want to expand in Africa and we think this is the best place to do it, to network, for new ideas,” said Jacqueline Furtado Carvalho , director of the Cabo Verdean company M&J Tech, who also participated in Market Days 2022.
This year’s event will build on previous successes to foster productive engagements between the public and private sectors. In addition to prioritizing three key sectors – renewable energy, agribusiness and manufacturing – the Africa Investment Forum Market Days boardrooms will feature deals from other sectors. sectors, particularly disruptive sectors such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, women as investment champions; and the creative and sporting industries.
Masai Ujiri, president of the Toronto Raptors franchise National Basketball Association (NBA), has made several appearances at the Africa Investment Forum and urged African governments to invest in sports. At Market Days 2022, he spoke passionately about the success and growth of sport on the African continent. “We should support the teams here in Africa. This should be our vision. Sport is the next big business in Africa,” Ujiri told investors.
The continent has many of the characteristics of a powerful sports market. Its athletes are world famous in football, basketball and track and field competitions. And a growing, increasingly middle-class population offers an untapped potential audience for national sports leagues. The Africa Investment Forum’s Sports as a Business Catalyst initiative is working to make this goal a reality.
During Market Days 2022, one of the projects that attracted strong investor interest was the Abidjan-Lagos highway project. The planned corridor, 1,081 km long and estimated to cost $15.6 billion, will connect the two cities via Accra, Lomé and Cotonou, covering an area that generates 75% of commercial activity in the region. West Africa.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is leading the project. In order to accelerate the mobilization of financing and other support for the Abidjan-Lagos highway, the ECOWAS Commission organized a round table with international development finance institutions (https://apo-opa.info/3Q5mw9T) on September 26, 2023, at the headquarters of the African Development Bank in Abidjan.
The founding partners of the Africa Investment Forum stand in solidarity with the Moroccan government and people following the devastating earthquake in early September. The partners are the African Development Bank, Africa50, the African Finance Corporation, the African Export-Import Bank, the Development Bank for Southern Africa, the European Investment Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and the trade and development.
Previous editions of the Africa Investment Forum Market Days have generated cumulative investment interest of $142.6 billion. (SOURCE: African Development Bank Group (AfDB)
