The Africa Investment Forum, Africa’s premier marketplace, is holding investor roundtables to drum up interest in bankable deals in energy, agribusiness, manufacturing and other sectors where Africa holds a comparative advantage. The deals will be presented to investors during its Market Days scheduled to take place in Marrakech in November.
The Africa investment Forum recently held events in Switzerland and the United States to showcase billions of dollars in Africa-wide business opportunities before global investors.
In Geneva, Switzerland, the Africa Investment Forum made a presentation to the Arab-Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry(link is external) and the Dubai Multi Commodities Center(link is external) on the 12th and 13th of September 2023. The event brought together investors as well as transport, healthcare and energy experts.
Africa Investment Forum Senior Director, Chinelo Anohu, outlined the Forum’s investment platform to the audience, emphasizing its focus on public-private partnership projects and on investments that sustain development. She stressed that Africa represents 55 distinct markets offering differing investment opportunities and rapidly evolving challenges.
The presentation also touched on corporate tax and the regulatory framework for industries
such as gambling.
On the second day, the Africa investment Forum team showcased healthcare, aviation, hydropower and other projects across Africa. Investors present responded with enthusiasm to the deals presented.
The Geneva roundtable follows on from one held on the side-lines of the Black Economic Forum’s Summer Executive Workshop(link is external) in Martha’s Vineyard island in Massachusetts.
The event presented investment opportunities worth billions of dollars in Africa’s innovative and creative sectors to African and African-American investors, government officials and heads of business and philanthropy.
It highlighted opportunities in African technology and innovation, as well as in the manufacturing, housing, infrastructure; and media and entertainment sectors.
Anohu commended the Black Economic Forum as an inclusive and multi-stakeholder gathering that has established the principles for more investments on the AIF platform.
“The roundtable presents an ideal opportunity to familiarize this important audience on the transactional nature of the Africa Investment Forum and the credible pathway it provides for investment on the continent,” Anohu said.
While in Martha’s Vineyard, Senior Director Anohu also spoke during Next Africa Now, a panel session to foster opportunities for strategic relationships and investment opportunities within the global Black diaspora. The session was organized by Next Narrative Africa(link is external), a multimedia production company that supports the creation of content to advance Africa’s economic progress.
The panel featured Akunna Cook, Next Narrative Africa’s CEO; Olugbenga Agboola(link is external) Founder and CEO of fintech Flutterwave; Iyin Aboyeji(link is external), general partner and co-founder of Future Africa, a platform that provides capital, coaching and community for mission-driven innovators; and Salene Hitchcock-Gear(link is external), president of Prudential Individual Life Insurance company.
“There is power in bridging Africa and the diaspora to tell better stories and change the narrative about Africa and people of African descent. Bringing Black investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs from across the U.S., Caribbean, and Africa to advance economic progress across the diaspora inevitably leads to changing our collective futures for the better,” said Cook.
Anohu said: “Investments cannot come from a unilateral source and that our presence here has shown how much capital can be raised from non-traditional investors present in the Vineyard for this event.”
She noted the existence of a strong partnership between the US, including President Biden’s administration and the Africa Investment Forum.
Held in November 2022, the Africa Investment Forum’s last Market Days showcased creative investments as well as projects led by women, under the theme women as investment champions.
Projects featured drew $31 billion in investment interest from African and global investors.
The 2023 Market Days Event will be held in Marrakech, Morocco from 8-10 November 2023 under the theme Unlocking Africa’s Value Chains. Agribusiness, renewable energy and manufacturing are among the focus sectors that will be featured.
The Africa Investment Forum is an initiative of the African Development Bank and seven other founding partners: Africa50, Africa Finance Corporation, Afreximbank, Development Bank of Southern Africa, European Investment Bank, Islamic Development Bank and Trade and Development Bank.
