By Wale Shonibare, Acting Vice-President, Power, Energy, Climate Change &amp; Green Growth, African Development Bank 



The African Development Bank’s New Deal on Energy for Africa underlines the urgency to power the continent in order to end energy poverty, catalyze industrialization, and stimulate socio-economic growth. The strategy is grounded in the recognition that access to reliable, affordable and sustainable energy is central to Africa’s development, and lifting populations out of poverty.  



Close to 600
million people in the continent still lack energy access, despite Africa’s abundant
energy resources, especially renewables such as wind, solar, hydro, and
geothermal. Bridging the energy access gap, and catalyzing economic growth, requires
substantial investments into Africa’s energy sector. The private sector sits on
the bulk of the capital. 



Investors
recognize the opportunities in the energy sector, yet multiple barriers stand
in the way of transformational private sector participation – including
non-creditworthy utilities, the absence of cost-reflective tariffs, and capacity
constraints throughout the energy sector value chain. Unlocking private sector
capital, therefore, must be accompanied by resolving policy and regulatory
issues, and other systemic bottlenecks, in order to create the right conditions
for energy investments from outside and within Africa.



The impetus to
mobilize and scale up private investment into the energy sector is what makes
the Africa Investment Forum such a critical platform for the continent’s energy
future. By leveraging the Bank’s convening power to facilitate public-private
dialogue, we will move closer to our goal of universal energy access, primarily
through reforms and financial instruments to de-risk transactions, enhance
bankability, and fast-track project closure. 



At this year’s
forum, the Bank’s energy team will engage sector stakeholders in extensive
consultations, knowledge exchange, networking, and peer-to-peer learning in
order to address barriers to mobilizing and
scaling up private investment into the energy sector. During various boardroom
sessions, we will focus on a range of projects, including the Inga Dam
in the DRC, the Baynes hydro plant in Angola and Namibia, and the Tulu Moye
geothermal development in Ethiopia. 



We will also
continue discussions on the roll-out of the Bank’s transformative Desert to
Power Initiative following its endorsement at the G5 Sahel Heads of State
Summit on 13 September in Burkina Faso. 



We will also
engage further on mobilizing climate finance through the Africa Financial
Alliance for Climate Change (AFAC) in order to shift portfolios of African
financial institutions towards climate-friendly projects across the continent. 



Earlier this
year, the Board of the African Development Bank approved the Distributed Energy Service
Companies (DESCOs) programme to support the deployment of off-grid solutions in
Sub-Saharan Africa at scale. We will engage investors on our plans to innovate
through the use of securitization financing techniques, which address access to
finance barriers for DESCOs while supporting their growth and expansion into
existing and new countries. We
will also release the 2019 edition of the Electricity Regulatory Index (ERI),
which is a diagnostic tool that highlights key areas in regulatory design and
practice that require improvement.



Throughout the
discussions, investors and stakeholders will be better able to understand
market dynamics, policy, and regulatory frameworks, while learning first-hand
about the details and potential of bankable projects, and what needs to be done
to speed up financial close.



By facilitating
mutually beneficial dialogue amongst stakeholders who can dramatically affect our
energy landscape, the Africa Investment Forum is creating the requisite
foundation for accelerated private sector investments to ultimately assure Africa’s
energy transformation.

Op-Ed: Why the Africa Investment Forum matters for the continent’s energy transformation

By Mariam Yinusa and Edward Mabaya are Principal Economist and Manager, respectively, in the Agribusiness Development Division of the African Development Bank. 



In
the past decade, a stroll along the aisles of any African supermarket is revealing:
there is a new wave of home-brewed brands that are fast becoming household
names. Products like Dangote rice from Nigeria, Akabanga pepper oil from Rwanda
and Tomoca coffee from Ethiopia attest to the gradual but persistent evolution
towards greater agro-processing and value addition in the domestic agriculture
sector.



Africa’s
agribusiness sector is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2030, so there is certainly
cause for optimism. Consumer demand for food in Africa is growing at an
unprecedented rate. But what is fuelling this growth?



First,
size matters. At a population of 1.2 billion people, Africa is currently the
second most populous continent in the world, superseded only by Asia. According
to United Nations projections, Africa’s population could reach 2 billion by
2030 and 2.5 billion by 2050. This means that one in five consumers globally
will be African. 



Second, quality
counts. Sustained GDP growth rates in several countries across the continent have
translated into rising incomes for some segments of the population. According
to the African Development Bank’s African Economic Outlook Report, the middle-class population is expected is projected
to reach 1.1 billion by 2060 which will make up 42% of the population. The
average African middle-class consumer is becoming relatively more affluent,
sophisticated and discerning in the food they choose to buy and eat. Concerns
about price/quality trade-offs, convenience, nutritional content and food
safety, amongst others, are central in their minds.



Third, concentration can
be powerful. Although most growth poles are small
to medium cities, megacities with populations of over 10 million inhabitants,
such as Cairo, Lagos and Kinshasa, have gained increased prominence. These
metropoles offer ripe opportunities for investment, as a result of the triad of
high consumption, concentrated spending power, and agglomeration (i.e. lower and
fixed distribution costs). 



On
the supply side, there is significant untapped potential. Over 60% of the world’s
uncultivated arable land is in Africa. 



Policy
makers recognize the huge opportunities these trends present and are making concerted
efforts to create and maintain an enabling business environment to attract both
local and foreign investors. The African Development Bank is at the forefront of
this coalition of the “ready” to transform African agriculture.



Under
its Feed Africa Strategy, the Bank is supporting its regional member countries
to address both demand and supply side constraints along agricultural value
chains. Through initiatives like the Technologies for African Agricultural
Transformation (TAAT), the Bank is boosting historically low yields in priority
commodities such as rice, maize and soybeans. In Sudan for example, the TAAT
supported heat-resistant wheat variety has increased wheat self-sufficiency
from 24% in 2016 to 45% in the 2018-2019 farming season. At the same time, Special
Agro-Processing Zones (SAPZs) are attracting both hard and soft infrastructure
and creating value addition to increased agricultural produce. Together with partners including Korea-Exim Bank and the European
Investment Bank, the AfDB has invested USD 120 million in SAPZs in Guinea,
Ethiopia and Togo which will significantly expand local agro-processing
activities along numerous agricultural value chain.



Along
with these key investments in Africa’s agricultural value chains, the continent
is starting to consolidate its wins. A case in point is regional integration,
exemplified by the recent ratification of the African Continental Free Trade
Area (AfCFTA), which has the potential to make Africa the
largest free trade area in the world.



Agribusiness
has already caught the eye of investors. Last year, it was one of the main
attractions at the inaugural Africa Investment Forum conference, which is
becoming the continent’s premier marketplace for global and pan-African
business leaders, and an innovator in accelerating deals.



Agriculture
was one of the nine sectors that attracted investor interest at the 2018 Africa
Investment Forum. The sector held its own against big hitters like financial
services, infrastructure, energy, and ICT. &nbsp;One such transaction was the Ghana Cocoa Board
(COCOBOD) deal in which USD $600 million loan financing was mobilized from the
AfDB and other investors to boost annual production of cocoa beans from 880,000
tons to 1.5 million tons. &nbsp;Within the
next three years, the project is also expected to promote growth in the domestic
cocoa value chain by increasing processing capacity two-fold from 220,000 tons
to 450,000 tons per annum.



Africa’s expanding consumer base will
undoubtedly lead to more spending on food and beverages on the continent. This
should be enlightening for would-be investors in food processing and value
addition ventures. 



The
front door to these opportunities is the Africa Investment Forum, scheduled for
November 11-13 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Op-Ed: Agribusiness: Africa’s new investment frontier

By Bajabulile “Swazi” Tshabalala, Vice President for Finance and Chief Finance Officer for the African Development Bank Group



2019 will be one
of the defining moments in Africa’s investment landscape. Bigger, bolder and
more ambitious projects await delegates and investors as we prepare to kick off
the second edition of the Africa Investment Forum. 



A multi-billion-dollar
petrochemical project in Egypt and the Kigali Innovation City Project in
Rwanda, are only two of the projects which featured during the maiden edition
of the Forum held in November last year.



Alongside a greater
emphasis on helping transactions reach bankability and in pushing ahead the
regional integration agenda, project sponsors and investors continue to flock
to our digital<a href="https://platform.africainvestmentforum.com/"> Platform</a>,
with <a>interest already shown in 151 projects from 34
African countries worth $112.4 billion.</a>



Following the immense
success of the inaugural edition held in November 2018, the Africa Investment
Forum, a brainchild of the African Development Bank, is becoming a firm fixture
in the calendars of the global investment community.<a> The
2018 event saw close to 2,000 participants, representing 83 countries, out of
which some 277 were delegates from development finance institutions that are
active in Africa. </a>



The 2018 Forum
was instrumental in showcasing up to 49 different transactions at different
stages of development and with a total value of $40 billion. These projects were presented to a
large audience of investors and financiers. Judging from the interest
generated, the Forum promises to play a major role in catalyzing investment
flows into Africa, so instrumental in moving the continent forward into the future.



Some of the key projects for which the
Forum is expected to play an invaluable role, include the Desert to Power
initiative – that aims to provide 10,000 MW of solar-generated electricity to 250 million people
across the Sahel. Projects like the Inga Hydro-electric
scheme in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and other major cross-border
infrastructure projects in road and rail, are all highly transformative projects
with important social and economic impacts.



The timing of
the coming into being of the Forum is fortuitous, coming on the heels of the Africa
Continental Free Trade Area and the Single African Air Transport Market,
ratified by the majority of African Union members. 



New investments made
possible through the Africa Investment Forum have the potential to spur an
explosion in trade, contribute to Africa’s re-industrialization and promote
cross-border regional economic integration. 



Indeed, while
the platform continues to ramp up and grow, the Forum offered some very
important lessons. In particular, additional resources are required to
adequately prepare projects which are crucial for Africa’s development. Well-prepared
projects minimize negative environmental and social issues, while maximizing
development and economic outcomes, thus contributing to enhanced bankability. This
notwithstanding, projects originated through the Forum will benefit from the Bank’s
wider ecosystem and the numerous instruments and partnerships with other development
finance institutions which will help transform project ideas into actual investments
that create jobs and economic opportunities on the ground. 



While the Forum
is a practical and transactional platform for project deals and potential
financers to interact, it has also become a staging post for new financing
product innovations that compliment and contribute to de-risking and making
investment opportunities more attractive for investors. Examples of recent
innovations in this regard include the co-guarantee platform that was
established in 2018 by the African Development Bank alongside its partners the Islamic
Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), African
Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) and GuarantCo. 



As we prepare again
to put Africa on global investors’ radars, I would like to see tied to the
Forum more activities with the potential of bringing increased dynamism and
depth to African domestic capital markets; initiatives that help mobilize African
domestic resources into projects coming to this platform for funding. 



Beyond this, there
are opportunities for the African diaspora whose annual remittances to the
continent now top $60 billion a year, making it an immense pool of money that
can actively participate in Africa’s development story and benefit from the
myriad investment opportunities. 



I would like to
see diaspora bond issuances and/or collective investment vehicles discussed and
presented at the Forum, as they can represent significant financing that can be
put to work for the benefit of Africa’s development.



I also strongly
encourage and welcome greater participation of the South African institutional
investment management industry.



We look forward to a successful Forum and to greater acceleration of the development of the continent.

Africa Investment Forum

Op-Ed: Why global and Pan African investors need to set their sight on the 2019 #AfricaInvestmentForum

Road to Africa Investment Forum: Consolidating the Africa free trade area

Road to the #AfricaInvestmentForum: Addressing Africa’s infrastructure challenges

<div style="max-width: 700px;"></div>
<script src="https://players.brightcove.net/1571595826001/default_default/index.min.js"></script>
The Africa Investment Forum 2019 roadshow is underway to provide opportunities to preview infrastructure opportunities within the African continent. This year&#8217;s focus is on structuring deals, screenings and enhancing projects while attracting co-investors and facilitating transactions to unlock the continents multi-billion-dollar opportunities. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Kopano Gumbi spoke to Mosa Tshabalala, CEO at the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency.

What to expect from the upcoming Africa Investment Forum 2019

By: Mateus Magala, Vice-President of Corporate Services and Human Resources at the African Development Bank



Economic reforms, a burgeoning middle class and regional diversity against the background of the new African Continental Free Trade Area &#8211; are making Africa’s Portuguese-speaking countries a hotspot for investor interest. Additionally, new tools – such as the Development Finance Compact for Lusophone Africa – give investors and lenders more comfort to enter into these markets.



The six African countries called “PALOPs”, their
Portuguese acronym – Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea,
Mozambique and São Tomé e Principe – are very diverse. They range from
Equatorial Guinea, Africa’s richest country per capita, to lower income economies;
from Angola’s and Mozambique’s populations of over 30 million to Cabo Verde’s
and São Tomé’s, of less than one million; and from southeastern Africa to the
northwest of the continent.



These states also share important traits. They have a
common heritage and language. As independent states, they have fostered trade ties
with Portugal and Brazil, among others.&nbsp;
And, most importantly for our current consideration they have all
recognized that they must do more to unleash the potential of the private
sector in their countries.&nbsp; The private
sector here faces constraints, ranging from lack of affordable financing to
difficulties in project preparation. The good news is that the PALOP governments
are determined to tackle these issues – with the help of their partners, such
as the African Development Bank. 



In November 2017, Bank President Akinwumi Adesina
visited Lisbon for discussions on how Portugal and the Bank could work in a more
integrated manner. Out of this meeting emerged a vision for a new partnership,
one that is open to other partners: the Development Finance Compact for
Lusophone Africa.&nbsp; Signed at the November
2018 Africa Investment Forum, its goal is very simple: to accelerate the
diversified, sustainable and inclusive growth of the private sector in the six
PALOPs. And it is completely focused on transactions to deliver practical
results on the ground. 



How does the Lusophone Compact propose to do this? Put simply, it is
results-based and focused on two types of interventions: financing and risk
mitigation from the partners for specific private sector and public-private
sector partnership (PPP) investments in the PALOPs; and technical assistance
projects that enable the private sector or specific investments, such as project
preparation and access to finance. It is operationalized through
country-specific Compacts, with concrete targets, that have been signed for
each PALOP. 



For its part, Portugal
has made available €400 million in guarantees in 2019 to back Bank financing
for private sector and PPP projects in the PALOPs.&nbsp; And the Bank is contributing its own
financing as well as resources for the administration of the Lusophone
Compact.&nbsp; Additionally, it is important
to stress that the PALOPs themselves are equal partners in this initiative:
they have a responsibility to work on enabling the private sector investments
in their countries, and the Compact also seeks to leverage intra-PALOP
investments and sharing of best practices.&nbsp;
Finally, we are encouraged that other states and development finance
providers want to join or partner with the Lusophone Compact.



This brings me back to
the initial point: now is the time to invest in Lusophone Africa. 



Angola and Equatorial
Guinea have both embarked on ambitious programs to diversify their economies
away from natural resources. Mozambique, which is beginning to receive massive
investments related to the natural gas sector, also recognizes the need to grow
sectors like agribusiness and industry, to increase employment.&nbsp; Cabo Verde, already a middle-income country,
is seeking to diversify its economy too – attracting new types of tourists
while also growing its fishing and agribusiness sectors. São Tomé e Principe
and Guinea-Bissau, members of the Alliance of Small Island States, seek
sustainable investments that both promote growth and deal with their exposure
to climate change, including through the so-called “blue economy”.&nbsp; &nbsp;



All of these countries
are determined to increase trade, both among themselves and within their
regions, which include Africa’s largest economies. 



That is why the PALOP’s
are eyeing the 2019 Africa Investment Forum – the unique investment marketplace
for regional investments, pioneered by the African Development Bank last year.



A specific panel on Investing
in Lusophone Africa at this year’s Forum will shine the spotlight on these
opportunities. And, just as last year, numerous Board Room sessions will
involve projects in the PALOPs – including at least four that are eligible
under the Lusophone Compact. 



The African Development Bank is proud to be part of
this new dawn for the continent’s Portuguese-speaking economies. And we invite
you to join us.

Op-Ed: It’s time to invest in Portuguese-speaking African countries, here’s why

Content supplied by Africa Investment Forum 



Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 17 October 2019 – In just a few weeks, the second edition of the annual Africa Investment Forum will kick off in Johannesburg, South Africa, with development finance institutions determined to tackle the continent’s infrastructure investment challenges and advance Africa’s economic transformation agenda.



Africa
Investment Forum 2018 broke the mold for regional investments and offered
lessons about what can be done when multilateral development and finance
institutions decide to pull their resources together to deliver as one.



&nbsp;“When we laid out our vision to
tilt the flow of capital into Africa by convening the first transaction-based
investment forum, many thought it would all amount to building castles in the
air. One year down the road, the verdict is undisputed. Africa’s investment
opportunities are proving to be seriously attractive,” said Akinwumi Adesina,
President of the African Development Bank, convener of the Forum.



&nbsp;The inaugural forum powerfully
demonstrated the Bank’s convening power and ability to rally key development
institutions, global and regional investors around the common objective of
fast-tracking Africa’s economic transformation.&nbsp;



&nbsp;The collective resolve to tackle
head-on Africa’s annual infrastructure investment gap, estimated at between
US$130 billion and US$170 billion, was on full display during the opening
ceremony.&nbsp;



&nbsp;“The inaugural Africa Investment
Forum witnessed an extraordinary level of engagement. The conversation moved
from talking about investment to advancing deals towards financial closure. 2019
will validate and redefine the perception of investor confidence regarding the
African Continent,” said David Makhura, Premier of Gauteng province in South
Africa.



&nbsp;Heads of key partner institutions
include Patrick Dlamini, CEO, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Professor
Benedict Oramah, President, the Africa Export-Import Bank, Dr. Bandar M. H.
Hajjar, President, Islamic Development Bank; Admassu Tadesse, President, Trade
and Development Bank. The Forum’s founding partners also include Alain Ebobisse,
CEO, Africa 50; Mallam Samaila Zubairu, CEO, Africa Finance Corporation.&nbsp;



For <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/africa-investment/2019/10/11/why-the-africa-investment-forum-ranks-among-the-best/">Alain Ebobisse, CEO of Africa50</a>, the continent is brimming with opportunities that are waiting to be seized. “The Africa Investment Forum not only brings together investors and stakeholders to initiate deals but can help close transactions that would otherwise take months or years. In infrastructure, this makes a significant difference since the financial and opportunity costs of project delays are high.” 



&nbsp;Africa’s development challenges
need a swift, bold, and robust response. Of the world’s 20 countries with the
least access to electricity, 13 are in Africa. Investment in the region of
$43-55 billion per year is needed until 2030-2040 to meet demand and provide
universal access to power.



&nbsp;“The audacity showed in South
Africa last year, and the results in terms of investment and deals closed will
live long in the investor community’s memory,” Adesina tells global investors
on the hunt for yields and opportunities. 



“We
will be reaching for new heights. Already, a robust pipeline of deals valued at
billions of US dollars, in energy, cross-border infrastructure, agriculture
will be tabled for discussed in the boardroom sessions,” he said.



 Last year’s Forum attracted 1,943 participants representing 87 countries and brought together 400 investors from 52 countries. The innovative investment marketplace, brings together heads of state, project sponsors, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors.. Policymakers, private equity firms, and other key senior government officials will also be present. 



Africa
Investment Forum 2019 will run from 11-13 November in Johannesburg, South
Africa.

Africa Investment Forum: A robust pipeline of deals valued at billions of US dollars will be on the table

Content supplied by Africa Investment Forum 



By Alain Ebobissé, CEO, Africa50



“The Africa Investment Forum, with its high-level, well-focused audience, ranks among the best.  Its strength is that it is very transaction-oriented. The Forum not only brings together investors and stakeholders to initiate deals, but can help close transactions that would otherwise take months or years,” says Ebobissé.



Ebobissé is the Chief Executive Officer of Africa50,
an infrastructure investment platform helping to facilitate project
development, mobilizing public and private sector finance, and investing in
infrastructure projects on the continent. Africa50’s investor base is currently
composed of the African Development Bank, 28 African countries, and two African
central banks.



In this interview, Ebobisse shares insights on the Africa Investment Forum and why it ranks
among the best.



What
are your most important memories and experiences of the inaugural Africa
Investment Forum?



Our
expectations for the Forum were high, and they were exceeded. We had in total
45 meetings, including three boardroom sessions with project developers, sponsors
investment firms and government entities who were eager to discuss and close
deals.



This
allowed us to build up our project pipeline. Two projects discussed during the
Forum are moving forward. 



The
Africa Investment Forum was also an excellent networking opportunity with high-level
government officials, including heads of states. Discussing projects with such decision
makers is critical as it can accelerate the approval and development
process.&nbsp; 



What
are some of the key milestones from your organization (in terms of deals
closure, tracking, etc.) reached at the forum? &nbsp;



At the 2018 Africa
Investment Forum in Johannesburg, we reached preliminary agreements on two
major projects, which we signed and publicly announced. One is the Kigali
Innovation City and the other, the road-rail bridge linking Brazzaville and
Kinshasa. Both create new hubs in the center of Africa – the first for
innovation, the second for transportation. The two projects are valued at $850 million.



Almost
70% of the projects that were initiated at last year’s Africa Investment Forum concern
infrastructure, so the Africa Investment Forum was a great venue for Africa50.



It
was also the right space for widening our institution’s thought leadership and
expertise on infrastructure. In addition to the plenary sessions I participated
in, Africa50 Director for Project Development, Koffi Klousseh, spoke on a panel
on creating bankable projects and at a side event on energy infrastructure. 



How
does the Africa Investment Forum compare with similar investment forums &#8211; what
is the Forum’s comparative advantage?



As
an organization, we attend and speak at several events focused on investment in
Africa every year. The Africa Investment Forum, with its high-level,
well-focused audience, ranks among the best. 



Its
strength is that it is very transaction oriented. The Africa Investment Forum not
only brings together investors and stakeholders to initiate deals, but can help
close transactions that would otherwise take months or years. In infrastructure,
this makes a significant difference since the financial and opportunity costs
of project delays are high.



The
Forum’s work streams on project preparation, and bankability, coupled with
promoting investment and improving the policy environment, are very much on
target. These are also our priorities at Africa50.



The
mix of participants is also well balanced and includes all the main stakeholders,
from sponsors and investors, to enablers and service providers. 



The
Forum is led by the stakeholders in the deal-making process, sponsors,
governments, and DFIs/financiers. They prepare projects and negotiate all year
round. So the Africa Investment Forum is not a one-off event, but an
accelerator of a long-term process. This sets it apart from other events.



Why
is it important for DFIs, IFIs, MDBs, and commercial banks to collaborate in
the manner that they did at the Africa Investment Forum?



Large
investments in Africa, in our case infrastructure, need many sources of finance
and expertise, so the collaboration between public and private financial institutions
is crucial to getting deals off the ground. Each entity brings specialized
expertise and different funding and risk guarantee instruments. 



Once
again, the Africa Investment Forum is actually a marketplace for deals, not a
conference. This requires more involvement on the part of participants, which
leads to better collaboration between commercial banks and DFIs to provide a broader
array of financial products to fund infrastructure. 



How
are you organizing and mobilizing for the next Africa Investment Forum?



We
will send appropriate high-level staff to participate in four ways: by promoting
our thought leadership on infrastructure development during panel discussions;
by promoting our newly launched Innovation Challenge, which focuses on
increasing access to last-mile internet connectivity in under-served areas in Africa;
we will also be engaging in project-specific transactions and negotiations,
during boardroom sessions and will engage with high-level government officials,
including Heads of State or Government on specific projects or to encourage
them to become Africa50 shareholders.

Why the Africa Investment Forum ranks among the best

SAVE
THE DATE



All set for
second Africa Investment Forum 



What: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2019 Africa Investment Forum 



Who:
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
African Development Bank, Partners



When: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 11-13 November 2019



Where: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg,&nbsp;South Africa 



The second edition of the Africa Investment Forum, a game-changer to tilt capital flow into the continent, will take place from 11-13 November 2019 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg,&nbsp;South Africa.



The forum, organized by the African Development Bank and its partners,
is the largest multi-stakeholder and multi-disciplinary marketplace aimed at raising
capital, advancing projects to bankable stage and accelerating financial
closure of deals.



There is an urgent need to bridge
the gap between Africa’s available capital and bankable projects. Although
brimming with investment opportunities, financing Africa’s development needs
will require between $200 billion and $1.2 trillion yearly. Of this, about
$130-$170 billion a year is needed for infrastructure, according to data by the
African Development Bank.



The Bank is working with other
multilateral development partners and stakeholders to ensure that the Africa
Investment Forum becomes the continent’s key springboard for investment to meet
the massive infrastructure and development needs.



Like the previous edition, the 2019
Forum will bring together project sponsors, pension funds, sovereign wealth
funds, private investors, policy makers, private equity firms, and heads of
government to advance Africa’s economic transformation agenda.



The inaugural
edition broke the mold for investment in Africa. It featured some 63 projects
from across 24 countries and seven sectors valued at $46.9 billion.
&nbsp;&nbsp;



Save the date now to avoid missing out on the biggest transactional gathering of global and pan-African investors on the continent. We look forward to meeting you in Johannesburg.



Content provided by the African Development Bank

The second edition of the #AfricaInvestmentForum, a game-changer to tilt capital flow into the continent

Press Release



Two innovative products &#8211; Digital Investment Platform, Tracker, announced 



Abidjan, Cote
d’Ivoire, 25 March 2019 &#8211; The African Development Bank, heads of 34 leading financial institutions covering Africa and other partners of the Africa Investment Forum reaffirmed
their commitment to “scale up, speed up, and synergize” efforts to deliver
transformative projects across the continent.



The meeting was also
attended by lead partners of the Africa Investment Forum: African Export-Import Bank, Africa50, Trade Development Bank,
Development Bank of South Africa, Africa Finance Corporation, European
Investment Bank, and Islamic Development Bank.



Chief Executive Officer,
Development Bank of Southern Africa, Patrick Dlamini, said: “The time has come
for us to demonstrate leadership to the rest of the world that a lot is
possible in Africa. The Africa Investment Forum provides the right platform to
achieve this. To see that the inaugural Forum last year was able to raise the
kind deals it did is mind-blowing. ”



Ahead of the November
2019 event, the Bank announced two innovative products &#8211; an open digital
marketplace known as ‘<a href="https://platform.africainvestmentforum.com/">The Platform</a>,’ to connect funders to projects and investment opportunities across
Africa, and an Investment Tracker to
ensure that investment commitments made on the Africa Investment Forum platform
are closely monitored. 



<a href="https://platform.africainvestmentforum.com">The Platform</a> is developed in
partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank’s <a href="https://connectamericas.com/">ConnectAmericas</a> &#8211; a global digital community with 200,000 registered business users, consolidating
its lead role in encouraging private sector investment in Africa.



&nbsp;“We need to make the Africa
Investment Forum the accelerator of projects. Last year’s event was great and
we want to build on that momentum,” Africa 50 Chief Executive Officer Alain Ebobissé said, stressing the need to
collectively commit additional financial resources for project preparation, and
legal support for African governments to better negotiate public private
partnerships. 



Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African
Development Bank, said the maiden edition of the Forum held in November 2018
exceeded expectations. “The 2018 Africa Investment
Forum ended with 49 deals that secured investor interest worth US$ 38.7 billion—in
just three days.” Adesina thanked the
core partners for their strong support in making the inaugural forum a success,
and that “working together as one remains the core principle of our
partnership.”



Partners unanimously
affirmed their commitment to the Forum and to driving investments in Africa.



Mamadou Barro, Head Africa, Islamic
Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector – Member of the Islamic
Development Bank (IsDB) Group, said: “We
must find a way to collectively attract the kind of funds the continent needs
to close its infrastructure gap.”



Participants welcomed the
innovative Platform, which offers investors, project sponsors and transaction
facilitators a live database of private/public private partnership (PPP)
projects and investment opportunities in Africa. It connects providers of
capital with opportunities for deals, improves the quality of project
information and reduces intermediation costs.&nbsp;
Features also include deal flow analytics and investment support
services, and access to training in the ConnectAmericas Academy.



Director
Project and Export Development Finance, African Export Import Bank, Kofi Adomakoh, called attention to the
importance of the co-guarantee component of the Forum, “We must pull our
strengths together to identify projects and synergies under the Africa
Investment Forum. The African Investment Forum that happened last year was long
overdue, but was important to put us back on track,” he noted. 



The 2018 Africa
Investment Forum attracted 1,943 participants representing 87 countries, and
brought together 400 investors from 52 countries;



According to Jane Feehan, Head of
Regional Representation for West Africa, European Investment Bank: “We are delighted
to underline and repeat our commitment to the Africa Investment Forum. The
success of the first edition has given it a huge convening power. We are also
excited about the focus on transactions.”

#AfricaInvestmentForum: Partners reaffirm commitment to close Africa’s infrastructure gap

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Distell has managed to increase its headline earning per share by 12.1 per cent to 570 cents per share despite water restrictions and lower harvest production in South Africa. The maker of spirits and fine wines managed to reduce its debt to equity ratio from 32.5 per cent in 2017 to 19.3 per cent this year. Distell CEO, Richard Rushton joins CNBC Africa for more.

Distell impresses with strong H1 earnings

By African Development Bank and the Africa Union Commission
Benin made the most progress in opening up its borders to African travellers, moving from 27th place in the 2017 edition to 1st place in the 2018 report. These findings were made in the 3rd edition of the <a href="https://bit.ly/2KDifYQ">Africa Visa Openness Index Report 2018</a> published by the African Development Bank and the Africa Union Commission.
Zimbabwe also broke into the top 20 with the introduction of a visa-on-arrival policy for SADC members. Overall, when compared to 2017, Africans do not need a visa to travel to 25% of other African countries (up from 22%); can get visas on arrival in 24% of other African countries (same as last year); and need visas to travel to 51% of other African countries (down from 54%), see table below.
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“Regional integration and trade based upon the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital is at the core of the business of the African Development Bank” 
Akinwumi A. Adesina, President, African Development Bank Group
However, the fact that Africans still require visas to travel to just over half of other African countries shows that more progress is needed to realise free movement of people continent-wide. As infrastructure expands across Africa, and tangible trade and investment opportunities are put on the table, Africans will need to travel with greater ease. Solutions such as the African passport, visa-free regional blocs, multi-year visas, or visa-on-arrival schemes should continue to be promoted.
“Looking at the recent development this year, such as the announcement by Ethiopia, Africa’s diplomatic capital, on the establishment of a visa-on-arrival regime for all African passport holders, Africa is indeed on an upward trajectory towards seamless borders and the free movement of its people. Commendable work has also gone into the actual roll-out of the African passport to the citizenry.” 
Amb. Kwesi Quartey, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission.
The Visa Openness Index assesses the progress African countries have realized in relaxing their visa regimes. Analysis go into the visa requirements set by each member state of the African Union for other member states seeking to enter their borders. The report aims to show at a glance which countries are facilitating travel for citizens of other African countries and how; whether they allow people to travel to their country without a visa; if travellers can get a visa on arrival in the country; or if visitors need to get a visa before travel.

These are Africa’s most open countries when it comes to visas

Ibukun Abedayo on reforming Africa’s capital markets

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How can African countries create projects that are not only bankable but will be well received by investors? Opuiyo Oforiokuma, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ARM-Harith joined CNBC Africa’s Kenneth Igbomor to discuss this on the side-lines of the just concluded African Investment Forum.

How bankable are projects in Africa?

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CNBC Africa&#8217;s Christy Cole caught up with Rakesh Wahi, the Vice Chairman and Co-founder of ABN on the side-lines of the Africa Investment Forum to discuss how to overcome the challenges of investing in Africa.

How to overcome the challenges of investing in Africa – Rakesh Wahi

By: Amadou Hott, Vice-President of Power, Energy, Climate Change &amp; Green Growth at the African Development Bank
Accessible, reliable and affordable energy is the cornerstone of transformational socio-economic development. For Africa, delivering sustainable development is dependent on meeting the continent’s energy needs in order to lift populations out of poverty, catalyze industrialization, and stimulate economic growth.
Despite the continent’s abundant energy resources, energy poverty is still rife in the continent with close to 600 million people lacking access to electricity. This sets nations back on meeting energy access goals, retards industry progress, and diminishes the continent’s economic growth by 2 to 4 percent every year.
On a positive note, energy access has improved in recent years with the number of people without access in sub-Saharan Africa falling for the first time in absolute terms, and with countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda leading the pace. Africa is at the forefront of distributed energy systems that can increase energy access in rural areas faster, more cheaply, and more widely than conventional grid extension, driven by innovative business models and rapidly decreasing technology costs. At the same time, renewables are on the rise across the continent with significant renewable generation capacities added in countries such as Egypt, Morocco and South Africa.
Renewable energy investments are also on the rise across the continent from Senegal, to Kenya, and Zambia. While this progress is encouraging, the pace of energy access falls far short of meeting the universal energy access target by 2030.
Closing the gap on Africa’s energy challenges presents major opportunities for investors keen on engaging with the continent, especially on helping Africa meet the shortfall in the estimated $90 billion required to achieve universal energy access by 2030.
Clearly, these financing needs are of such magnitude that no single institution is capable of meeting them in isolation. This is why development finance institutions need a pragmatic shift in how they do business and leverage scarce public resources in order to mobilize private sector financing at scale, “from billions to trillions”.
The African Development Bank is leading by example. For instance, the Bank launched the Facility for Energy Inclusion to close funding gaps in the small-scale energy infrastructure sector, and catalyze last-mile energy access. Through a mix of commercial and concessional instruments, the facility provides low cost of capital, and mitigates key credit and currency risks. Additionally, the recently approved the Room2Run transaction allows the Bank to effectively transfer the credit risks of selected loan portfolios to investors, which lowers the total risk consumption of the Bank.
This initiative will enable the Bank to recycle capital efficiently in order to boost lending capacity and enhance private sector investments. The transaction has already attracted major support from partners like the European Commission who will provide a $100 million guarantee to be channeled into renewable energy projects in Africa. Ultimately, this will free up around $700 million, which can be re-allocated to new projects.
Multiple barriers hinder investments and private sector participation which could potentially fast-track energy access. These include lack of an enabling policy environment for investors, and other systemic bottlenecks that slow down transactions and escalate project costs. Transforming the energy landscape calls for a multi-faceted approach to unlock private sector capital by resolving these barriers in order to create the ideal conditions for investments in the continent.
The African Development Bank in close collaboration with other development partners is perched on the apex of creating a vibrant marketplace that will deliver the energy transformation necessary to move Africa forward. The Bank is dedicated to eliminating and minimizing barriers for investors, primarily through financial instruments to de-risk transactions, disseminating knowledge and market data, and facilitating peer-to peer learning and networking. Private sector engagement is on the rise, buoyed by various partnerships such as the New Deal on Energy for Africa and the US-led Power Africa Initiative.
To sustain this momentum, the bank convened the inaugural Africa Energy Market Place (AEMP) in Abidjan in July 2018. The AEMP is a platform for public private dialogue, and is set up to address barriers to mobilizing and scaling-up private investment into the energy sector. Effectively, AEMP reviews and prioritizes transformative energy transactions, and accelerates reforms in order to attract private investments and create a pipeline of bankable projects. Five countries participated in the inaugural edition: Côte d&#8217;Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Zambia.
The conversations that began at the AEMP are set to continue in November’s Africa Investment Forum (AIF) in South Africa. The forum convenes project sponsors, borrowers, lenders and investors with a shared interest in closing Africa’s infrastructure gap which is estimated to be anywhere between $130–$170 billion per year.
By convening,and facilitating mutually beneficial dialogue amongst stakeholders who can dramatically impact Africa’s energy landscape, the Bank is creating the requisite foundation for accelerated private sector investments in Africa’s energy sector to achieve universal energy access.
Indisputably, this will put the continent steadily on the path to socio-economic growth, and sustainable development.

Africa Investment Forum

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Op-Ed: Why global and Pan African investors need to set their sight on the 2019 #AfricaInvestmentForum

Road to Africa Investment Forum: Consolidating the Africa free trade area

Road to the #AfricaInvestmentForum: Addressing Africa’s infrastructure challenges

What to expect from the upcoming Africa Investment Forum 2019

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Africa Investment Forum: A robust pipeline of deals valued at billions of US dollars will be on the table

Why the Africa Investment Forum ranks among the best

The second edition of the #AfricaInvestmentForum, a game-changer to tilt capital flow into the continent

#AfricaInvestmentForum: Partners reaffirm commitment to close Africa’s infrastructure gap

Distell impresses with strong H1 earnings

These are Africa’s most open countries when it comes to visas

Ibukun Abedayo on reforming Africa’s capital markets

How bankable are projects in Africa?

How to overcome the challenges of investing in Africa – Rakesh Wahi

OpEd: Why financing Africa’s energy infrastructure is a major opportunity for investors

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Africa Investment Forum

Op-Ed: Why the Africa Investment Forum matters for the continent’s energy transformation

Op-Ed: Agribusiness: Africa’s new investment frontier

Op-Ed: Why global and Pan African investors need to set their sight on the 2019 #AfricaInvestmentForum

Road to Africa Investment Forum: Consolidating the Africa free trade area

Road to the #AfricaInvestmentForum: Addressing Africa’s infrastructure challenges

What to expect from the upcoming Africa Investment Forum 2019

Op-Ed: It’s time to invest in Portuguese-speaking African countries, here’s why

Africa Investment Forum: A robust pipeline of deals valued at billions of US dollars will be on the table

Why the Africa Investment Forum ranks among the best

The second edition of the #AfricaInvestmentForum, a game-changer to tilt capital flow into the continent

#AfricaInvestmentForum: Partners reaffirm commitment to close Africa’s infrastructure gap

Distell impresses with strong H1 earnings

These are Africa’s most open countries when it comes to visas

Ibukun Abedayo on reforming Africa’s capital markets

How bankable are projects in Africa?

How to overcome the challenges of investing in Africa – Rakesh Wahi

OpEd: Why financing Africa’s energy infrastructure is a major opportunity for investors

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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