The Africa Investment Forum gathered investors on the sidelines of the African Development Bank Group’s 2022 Annual Meetings to highlight the platform’s ability to attract essential investment to the continent.
The May 25 investor roundtable took place at a time when money flows are in turmoil following the COVID-19 epidemic. The Africa Investment Forum connects project sponsors, investors, and financiers, as well as the public and commercial sectors, through such conversations.
The interactive debate highlighted several landmark initiatives that illustrate the AIF platform’s unique convening potential in the context of this year’s Annual Meetings theme: Achieving Climate Resilience and a Just Energy Transition for Africa. The Annual Meetings’ drawcard adds to the appeal of the event.
Around 3,000 government leaders, policymakers, and other decision makers attend the African Development Bank Group’s Annual Meetings.
AIF’s founding partners, development financing institutions, commercial banks, high net worth individuals, family companies, and representatives from venture capital and private equity firms attended the investment roundtable, which was held at the Kempinski hotel in Accra, Ghana.
The host country, which included the Ghana Investment and Promotion Centre (GIPC), the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund, Ghana EXIM, and other banking industry heavyweights, had a good showing.
Ghana’s finance minister and departing chair of the African Development Bank Group’s board of governors, Ken Ofori-Atta, praised the AIF’s efforts to narrow Africa’s infrastructure deficit, especially as the continent recovers from the effects of COVID-19.
Ofori-Atta commended the AIF’s senior director, Chinelo Anohu, for bringing Ghana’s portfolio to the attention of the AIF platform, and he congratulated President Adesina on his vision in establishing the platform in 2018.
AIF’s active deal pipeline transactions were presented in the presentations, which spanned 26 countries and nine industries. Boardroom deals are predicted to generate 3.8 million direct and indirect jobs by 2021, with a million of those positions going to women and women entrepreneurs, and another million going to youth.
Four deals involving transportation infrastructure and four deals involving energy and power were among the offers presented. AIF also highlighted two Ghanaian deals in the areas of transportation and health.
The $15.6 billion Abidjan-Lagos Highway project, led by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, took center stage in terms of transportation infrastructure.
This is the most significant investment opportunity addressed – and oversubscribed – at the AIF Boardrooms in 2021. This project, which is part of the PIDA (Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa), is a critical public-private collaboration that would connect Abidjan and Lagos along the West African coast via Accra, Lomé, and Cotonou.
The $4.5 billion 1,500 MW Mphanda Nkuwa Hydro Power Project in Mozambique was also recognized. On the fringes of the African Progress Bank’s Annual Meetings, the African Development Bank and Gabinete de Implementaço do Projecto Hidroeléctrico de Mphanda Nkuwa, an implementing company, signed an agreement to provide advisory services for the project’s development.
The signing was observed by Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi and African Development Bank President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina.
Following the project presentations, a lively discussion ensued, with many participants concentrating on the disparity in investor perceptions of Africa’s risk premium, as well as the necessity for Africa to take control of its narrative in the media and with rating agencies.
The interactive event boosted AIF’s thought leadership on investment prospects in Africa and contributed to company development by amplifying its voice as a leader in private sector development.
The number of investors interested in AIF Boardroom agreements continues to rise.
The AIF’s last two editions, in 2018 and 2019, attracted $78.8 billion in investment interest across numerous major transactions.
The AIF2021 virtual boardrooms, which took place in March 2022, attracted $32.8 billion in investment interest in 31 bankable projects, eight of which are women-led or women-centered and have a potential value of nearly $5 billion.
The AIF Market Days, which will take place in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, in November 2022, will help to close these boardroom negotiations.
The African Investment Forum (AIF) is Africa’s investment marketplace, championed by the African Development Bank and its founding partners (Africa 50, Africa Finance Corporation, AfreximBank, Development Bank of Southern Africa, European Investment Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and Trade and Development Bank).
APO Group distributes on behalf of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
The African Development Bank Group is comprised of the following institutions:
Africa’s premier development finance organization is the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). The African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF), and the Nigeria Trust Fund are its three independent institutions (NTF). The AfDB helps to the economic development and social progress of its 54 regional member nations by operating in 44 African countries and having an external office in Japan. For further information: www.AfDB.org