Investment - Afrikan Heroes

CcHub’s Growth Capital Fund Is Raising $60m to Invest In Startups Across Africa

October 4, 2019

Nigeria’s Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) which recently acquired Kenya’s largest technology hub, iHub in a landmark deal has announced it is raising US$60 million for its Growth Capital investment arm to boost startups across Africa.

Here Is All You Need To Know

According to the Chief executive officer (CEO)of CcHub Bosun Tijani, the fund was currently in the process of raising US$60 million, which he hoped would be completed within the next 12 months.
CcHub’s Growth Capital is a social innovation fund that supports high potential, early-stage businesses building next generation infrastructure. Its pilot fund has made six investments, in Nigerian startups Taeillo, LifeBank, Riby, Edves, Delivery Science and DrugStoc.
This new, bigger Growth Capital fund will make investments in startups across the continent.
The hub has previously invested in about 25 startups directly through its angel fund and in-house incubation programme.
Startups in Rwanda and Kenya will be among the beneficiaries of the enlarged Growth Capital fund, as will those from other African countries. The fund also sees iHub indirectly fulfil a pledge made in December 2016, when it said it planned to raise a pan-African investment vehicle of its own.

About CcHub

CcHub has been expanding of late, launching a Rwandan hub in February and just last week announcing the acquisition of the Nairobi iHub. The deal brought two of Africa’s flagship tech hubs together to form a pan-African entity focused on accelerating the growth of tech innovation and entrepreneurship.
The iHub, launched in 2010 and home to internationally-recognised companies such as BRCK and Ushahidi, will retain its name and senior management structure, with Tijani becoming CEO across both locations.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world

Blockchain startup DappRadar raises $2.33m seed round led by Naspers Ventures

September 7, 2019

Naspers, Africa’s largest company is investing in blockchain technology, and it has chosen DappRadar, the leading US-based global platform for discovering and analysing blockchain-based decentralised applications (“dapps”). With $2.33 million in seed funding, DappRadar will be looking to commit more into Research & Development (R&D), developing new functionality that will help the business expand its service and reach the next stage in its growth.

Here Is The Deal

The investment was led by Naspers, a global internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world, through its Naspers Ventures division, with participation from Blockchain.com Ventures and Angel Invest Berlin.
DappRadar will use the investment primarily for R&D, developing new functionality to help the business expand its service and reach the next stage in its growth.
Naspers is a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. The group operates and partners a number of leading internet businesses across Asia, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe in sectors including online classifieds, payments and fintech, food delivery, travel, education, health, and social and internet platforms. Naspers has invested in, acquired or built startups, including Avito, Brainly, BYJU’S, Codecademy, eMAG, Honor, ibibo, iFood, letgo, Media24, Movile, OLX, PayU, SimilarWeb, Swiggy, Takealot, and Udemy.
Blockchain Ventures is a venture capital fund and a subsidiary of Blockchain, the leading provider of cryptocurrency products and creator of the world’s most popular crypto wallet. The fund supports and invests in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology projects that advance the industry and provide positive societal impact.

“In the short time since we founded DappRadar, we’ve seen the technology mature quickly and its commercial prospects are clearer,” says Skirmantas Januskas, DappRadar CEO and co-founder. “With Naspers Ventures’ international consumer expertise and Blockchain.com’s industry knowledge, we are in an excellent position to harness this momentum to expand our business further.”

Why Naspers Invested

The investment is led by Naspers Ventures, offering further validation of the space as the company joins a portfolio that includes other leading global internet companies. Banafsheh Fathieh, Principal and Early Stage Investment Lead at Naspers Ventures, will join the DappRadar board.

‘‘Naspers Ventures’ strategy is to invest in companies and sectors with high, long-term growth potential. Blockchain is beginning to disrupt and revolutionise a number of key industries and DappRadar has succeeded in creating a strong commercial brand and product in the space. We are excited for our partnership and the opportunity that lies ahead for the company,” says Fathieh.

Blockchain.com Ventures makes long-term venture investments in businesses using blockchain technology to provide product differentiation or enhanced utility, rather than leveraging crypto as a tool for financial speculation.

“DappRadar is playing a vital role in bringing trust, transparency and discovery to the fragmented world of dapps,” says Samuel Harrison, Managing Partner at Blockchain.com Ventures. “We hope to play a role in accelerating their impact on the ecosystem.”

What DappRadar Does

Dapps are applications that run on peer-to-peer computer networks, rather than on centralised machines or servers. Their code is typically open source and the core function is handled by open source smart contracts deployed on a blockchain. Due to the nature of blockchain technology, a decentralised application’s data is transparent and cannot be tampered with, enabling the community to build on top of it without requiring permission.

DappRadar tracks over 2,500 dapps across six blockchains, including Ethereum, EOS and TRON, with plans to expand to others. DappRadar filters through dapp data, removes fake and irrelevant activity and provides actionable market intelligence. Dapps are tracked in terms of their active users, token volume and transaction activity to provide insight into the trends in the dapp ecosystem. DappRadar has become the starting point for dapp discovery and acts as a distribution channel for dapp developers that are looking to reach new consumers.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Africa Check in conjunction with Facebook, expands its local language coverage as part of its Third-Party Fact-Checking Programme

August 15, 2019

Africa Check in conjunction with Facebook, expands its local language coverage as part of its Third-Party Fact-Checking Programme.

Facebook’s reality checking project depends on input from the Facebook people group, as one of numerous sign Facebook uses to raise possibly false stories to certainty checkers for survey

Facebook), today with Africa Check reported that it has included new neighborhood language support for a few African dialects as a major aspect of its Third-Party Fact-Checking program – which surveys the exactness of news on Facebook and expects to decrease the spread of deception.

Propelled in 2018 crosswise over five nations in Sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Cameroon, Facebook has banded together with Africa Check, Africa’s first free certainty checking association, to grow its neighborhood language inclusion over:

Nigeria, in Yoruba and Igbo, adding to Hausa which was at that point bolstered

Swahili in Kenya

Wolof in Senegal

Afrikaans, Zulu, Setswana, Sotho, Northern Sotho and Southern Ndebele in South Africa

As indicated by Kojo Boakye, Facebook Head of Public Policy, Africa, stated: “We keep on trying huge interests in our endeavors to battle the spread of false news on our stage, while building strong, sheltered, educated and comprehensive networks. Our outsider reality checking system is only one of numerous ways we are doing this, and with the extension of neighborhood language inclusion, this will help in further improving the nature of data individuals see on Facebook. We know there is still more to do, and we’re focused on this.”

Remarking, Noko Makgato, official chief of Africa Check, said “We’re excited to grow the munitions stockpile of the dialects we spread in our work on Facebook’s outsider truth checking program. In nations as semantically different as Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Senegal, certainty checking in neighborhood dialects is imperative. In addition to the fact that it lets us actuality check increasingly content on Facebook, it likewise implies we’ll be contacting more individuals crosswise over Africa with confirmed, believable data.”

Facebook’s reality checking project depends on criticism from the Facebook people group, as one of numerous sign Facebook uses to raise possibly false stories to certainty checkers for survey. Neighborhood articles will be reality checked close by the confirmation of photographs and recordings. In the event that one of Facebook’s reality checking accomplices distinguishes a story as false, Facebook will demonstrate it lower in News Feed, essentially lessening its dispersion.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Gambia Now Has The Latest Angel Investors Network in Africa

August 1, 2019

More investment in the Gambian startup ecosystem is expected. A new angel investors network is currently in place in the Gambia. So, expect more funding for Gambia startups.

Here Is The Deal

The Gambia Angel Investors Network (GAIN) launched on July 20 with a pitch session and a masterclass on angel investing delivered by its new managing director Adrame Ndione and Tomi Davies, president of the African Business Angel Network (ABAN).
In the latest West African angel investor network launch, following those in the likes of Mali, Benin, and Senegal, GAIN is bringing together between 10 and 15 local investors who have committed to providing funding to between eight and 12 early and growth-stage startups and in The Gambia each year.
The network aims to provide ticket sizes of between US$20,000 to US$300,000 and help develop the nascent Gambian startup and investment ecosystem by empowering hubs, incubators, and accelerators and providing an entry point for international investors and diaspora interested in investing the country.

Most Active Seed Stage Investors

When pitching, an important point is to be pitching so as to reach to those who are most likely to fund your type of round. The most active investors in seed rounds during the past 3 months are:

Startup-Chile

Hiventures

Crowdcube

Plug and Play

Innovation Works

500 Startups

Innova Memphis

Entrepreneurs Roundtable

Berkeley SkyDeck Fund

Quake Capital Partners

Top Early Stage Investors

For those, going for early-stage funding, consider these active players:

IDG Capital

New Enterprise Associates

Sequoia Capital China

Accel

Y Combinator

ZhenFund

Sequoia Capital

Matrix Partners China

Intel Capital

Index Ventures

Most Active Late-Stage Investors

Interested in looking for a Series B or anything above for a growth stage round, the following firms have been the most active globally.

Sequoia Capital

Tencent Holdings

Insight Venture Partners

Bpifrance

Goldman Sachs

Bessemer Venture Partners

New Enterprise Associates

Khosla Ventures

Andreessen Horowitz

Sequoia Capital China

These Investors Have Been The Most Active In Africa, Whether Early, Middle Or Late Funding

Click here to view the list of good investors in African startups.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Reuel Khoza appointed chair of PIC and aims for ‘former glory’

July 27, 2019

South Africa’s special investment arm, Public Investment Corporation (PIC) has appointed Reuel Khoza as its chair, boosting the independence of the custodian of SA government worker pensions by ridding the board of politicians.

Khoza is the first non-political chair of the PIC in nearly two decades and has vowed to restore Africa’s largest investment manager to its former glory.

“We will also restore the PIC to its former glory days when it was held in very high esteem, not only by its shareholder [the government] but by the various other publics it addresses itself to,” said Khoza, shortly after being elected chair at the first meeting of the new board, appointed by finance minister Tito Mboweni earlier in July.

Mboweni announced a 14-strong set of directors after the previous board resigned following a string of scandals. Speaking in Pretoria on Thursday, he said it was “bad practice” for the chair to be a lawmaker, and instead named serial board member Khoza to the position.

Khoza is a former chair of Eskom and Nedbank and holds the same role at Dzana Investments and AKA Capital. His deputy is Sindi Mabaso, a chartered accountant with experience on the boards of a number of other state-owned entities (SOEs).

In contrast to the established practice of the past two decades, and the PIC Amendment Bill which still awaits President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signature, Mboweni selected a board that did not include the deputy finance minister as chair, saying it’s a decisive moment for the PIC to go “fully corporate”.

Other new directors include Ivan Fredericks, GM of the Public Servants Association of SA, and Maria Ramos, a former director-general of the Treasury and CEO of Absa until earlier in 2019.

“The board will be totally autonomous. We want to believe that based on the kind of people that have been invited to the board, it will be a strong board,” says Khoza.

Khoza identified restoring stability at the PIC and recruiting a new CEO as the company’s immediate priorities. “So, the first thing we would like to do is to restore stability, and simultaneous with that we will be on a search for a CEO. But not only for that position, but for other senior positions that are currently populated by acting people.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Here Is Why Africell Is Planning To Invest $100 Million In Fintechs

Fintech is where the money is. Africa’s fintech companies have raised $320 million in funding since January 2015 and the ecosystem has surged 60% in the last two years. Africell understands these statistics and is willing to use its wide reach to give it a shot. With $100 million funding from the OPIC, the US government’s private investment fund, the African telecom company is more than ready to continue the disruption game.

Here Is The Deal

The Uganda-headquartered Africell’s new funding is more than $100 million and part of this would be used by the company to expand access to telecommunications in Africa.
The countries Africell is targeting are Uganda, DRC, Gambia and Sierra Leone.
Apart from this $100 million funding, Africell has set aside $300 million to spend on a new market like Angola within the first year of commencing business if they secured a license.
Africell would bid to become the fourth operator in Angola, which was expected to reissue a tender in the next two months after the original tender for the license was annulled in April.
A larger part of the $100 million would be spent on fintech.

The unbanked population is what Africell is targeting here.
Global fintech funding rose to $111.8 billion in 2018, up 120 percent from $50.8B in 2017 and that is a huge opportunity Africell is hoping to tap into.
To make this happen, Africell is looking at expanding its fintech services, such as mobile payments, micro-insurance, and micro-finance.
Mobile money payments, pioneered in Kenya, have expanded rapidly in other African nations where many people do not have bank accounts.
The 18-year-old company has 15 million subscribers across its four African operations.

The Game Is In Competing Profitably And Not Just Expanding

“We are looking only at markets where we can make a difference,” said Africell founder and chief executive Ziad Dalloul indicating this included Angola and Zimbabwe.

He said Angola was attractive because the country’s state-owned Angola Telecom had a large market share that could be vulnerable to a more aggressive private operator like Africell.

“Day one, we can just change the whole thing…drop market prices, expand into rural areas, provide faster, better service on internet. These are the things we know how to do. So that’s why we are keeping an eye on Angola,” he said.

And Africell Is Turning Its Eyes On Fintech For Reasons More Business Than Charitable

“No space has quite the potential impact of the fintech space when it comes to impact — and profits — in Africa, with startups operating such platforms able to significantly address the major issue of financial exclusion on the continent and thus promote development in all sorts of other areas,” says Disrupt Africa co-founder Tom Jackson.

Nigeria led the investments in 2018 with 58 startups raising $94,9 million, followed by South Africa with 40 businesses that raised $59,9 million, and Kenya was third.

Fintech investment was still the most popular, bringing in 39.7% of total funds “South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya remain the main three markets, with 141, 101 and 78 active ventures respectively, accounting for 65.2% of Africa’s fintech startups,” Jackson says.

US fintech investment for 2018 more than doubled to $52.5B, from $24B in 2017, across a record 1,061 deals.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Africa’s Biggest Company Is Investing Over $30 Million in U.S. Education Platform

This is a big shot from Naspers, Africa’s biggest company, which in terms of GDP, would be richer than the West African country of Liberia. Naspers is invading the US disruption market, leading a $30 million investment round in Brainly, a U.S. startup that allows learners to help each other with homework problems in different parts of the world.

Here Is What You Need To Know

The Cape Town-based Naspers has led the latest $30 million investment round in Brainly, a U.S. startup that allows learners to help each other with homework problems in different parts of the world.
The students earn points for the quality of their answers and can enter leadership-boards in different subjects such as history, mathematics, and others.
Naspers Ltd., Africa’s biggest company by market value and soon to be one of Europe’s largest listed technology companies, is investing more of its $10-billion cash-pile in educational platforms.

“At Naspers, we back companies seeking to address big societal needs like education, helping them to achieve global scale,” said Naspers Ventures Chief Executive Officer Larry Illg. “Brainly has the potential to serve the needs of hundreds of millions of students around the world, and has shown strong growth in the U.S. and high growth markets such as India, Indonesia, Turkey and Brazil.”

The cash from the current funding round will be used to update the platform and expand its base in the U.S., where it has already managed to make money from the service.
Brainly is also expanding into India, where Naspers also led a $540 million funding round into another educational tech company Byju in December last year. The Brainly platform is growing at around 200% a year. Before the Byju investment, Naspers’s education investments have all been in the U.S. and includes other online learning platforms such as Udemy.
Naspers also led $540 million funding round in India’s Byju

Naspers first invested in Brainly in 2016. Runa Capital and Manta Ray have also invested in the latest funding round.

A $32 million initial investment in Tencent Holdings Ltd. back in 2001 transformed the South African newspaper and Pay TV business into one of the largest technology investors globally.

Its 31% stake in the Chinese game-maker is worth $140 billion, compared with its total market value of $110 billion in Johannesburg.

The valuation gap motivated a decision for Naspers to list its internet businesses on the Euronext in September to close that discount.

From the pie chart above it is clear that majority of revenue for Naspers comes from Internet services, which contributed 69.34% to NPN’s revenue, second biggest revenue earner was E-commerce with 15.2% or $1.987 billion dollars followed by video entertainment, with 14.1% or $1.834 billion.

Naspers’ Money At A Glance

A look at the financial results for the 6 months ending in September 2018, as revealed by Naspers in its financial statement shows:

Operating Revenue: $3.34billion
Cost of providing services and sale of goods :$1.981billion
Selling, general and administration expenses: $1.284billion
Operating profit: $49million
Share of equity accounted investment (basically Naspers’ share of Tencent profits as rest of equity-accounted results are negligible compared to Tencent’s contribution): $2.098 billion
Taxes: $317 million
Profit for the period: $3.454 billion

Read Also: South Africa ’s ‘Uber of Cleaning Services’ Gets $2 Million Investment From Naspers

Per-share statistics:

Diluted headline earnings per share: $6.32
Dividend yield: 0.24%
Cash per share: $7.32
Net asset value per share: $62
Cash generated from operations per share: $0.54

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Ethiopia backs Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF)

July 26, 2019

Prominent figures from Ethiopia’s public and private sectors have spoken out publicly to welcome the return to Addis Ababa of the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) which is the premier tourism and hotel investment conference in Africa, and to encourage others to attend.

AHIF attracts many prominent international hotel owners, investors, financiers, management companies and their advisers. It will return to the Sheraton Hotel, Addis Ababa in the last week of September 23-25, 2019. AHIF was previously held in Ethiopia’s capital city in 2014 and 2015.

According to an independent study by Grant Thornton and the international tourism advisory expert, Martin Jansen van Vuuren, of Futureneer Advisors, the event is forecast to be worth $millions to Ethiopia’s economy and to facilitate the investment of $billions in hospitality projects across Africa.

In 2018, AHIF facilitated around $2.8 billion of investment in the hospitality sector and between 2011 and 2018, $6.2 billion. Abebe Abebayehu, Commissioner, Ethiopian Investment Commission, said: “We are glad to support this prestigious event.

AHIF attracts the highest caliber group of business leaders in the hospitality industry in Africa. By taking part, we will be able to get a much deeper understanding of what investors need. That is particularly important to us in the context of the government’s focus on tourism as a strategic pillar of the economy. By encouraging more investment in hospitality projects, we will create productive employment for our young population and earn valuable hard currency.”

One of the most important roles played by AHIF is to facilitate networking between delegates. Many investors and developers are keen to find new sources of finance, expert advisers and importantly, local partners.

One Ethiopian businessman, Neway Berhanu, Managing Director, Calibra Hospitality Group, has benefitted substantially from this. He says: “Calibra Hospitality Group’s success in becoming the leading consulting company in Ethiopia has been greatly helped by being an active participant in the Africa Hotel Investment Forum, since 2011.

Thanks to Bench Events, we are now well connected, having established very good relationships with all the major international hotel brands. That has enabled us to conclude close to 25 International transactions, bringing business to Ethiopia. I would encourage the business community and all stakeholders in the hospitality sector to attend.”

The promotion of tourism is another critical issue for many African countries. For Ethiopia, it is underlined by a report from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which states that Travel & Tourism represents 61% of Ethiopia’s exports and it expects the industry to expand by a whopping 48.6% in 2019.

A rapidly growing national airline, a new hub airport, relaxed visa regulations, and the country being the political center of Africa, by virtue of hosting the headquarters of the African Union, are drivers of these impressive numbers. Ms. Lensa Mekonnen, CEO, Tourism Ethiopia said: “AHIF will provide an excellent opportunity to welcome the cream of the hotel industry to Ethiopia.

Our aim is to show them our assets and thereby attract more international-standard hotel and resort brands to establish themselves close to our historical, natural and cultural sites, in addition to the capital city. By promoting regionally balanced development, we will attract more tourists to Ethiopia and encourage them to stay longer.”

Matthew Weihs, Managing Director, Bench Events, concluded: “Ethiopia is a center for political meetings in Africa and a fast-growing transport hub. That already makes it attractive to hotel investors. The government’s declared interest in prioritizing tourism will further increase the attractiveness, along with its renewed enthusiasm for collaboration with the business community.

When AHIF first came to Ethiopia, there were three internationally-branded Hotels, the Hilton, the Radisson, and the Sheraton. Now there is a Best Western, a Golden Tulip, a Hyatt Regency, Marriott apartments and a Ramada; plus, another 27 hotels in the pipeline!”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Germany Africa Business Forum announces multi-million Euro funding commitment to investing in German-African energy startups

The Germany Africa Business Forum, whose goal is to strengthen investment ties between Germany and Africa, announced it has, in collaboration with private partners from the energy industry, launched a multi-million Euro funding commitment to investing in German energy startups that focus on Africa.

The funding commitment, which pledges funds to German startups with exposure to African energy projects, will be the first such intra-regional initiative.

“Our initial goal is to support the investment in German companies and to start with funding allocations by the end of this year”, said Sebastian Wagner, co-founder of the GABF. “Through our partners, we will immediately get involved in investing in solutions-driven German startups with pragmatic business models to solve Africa’s energy challenges through the provision of German technology and innovation”, he added.

“The future of Africa’s energy industry will depend on technology and innovation. When German start-ups and Africans work together, we can build something unique for both our peoples.

I applaud the GABF for this well-thought-out initiative. I believe it is in line with the goals of the G20 Compact with Africa, driven by Germany”, stated NJ Ayuk, a pan-African energy dealmaker, CEO of Centurion Law Group and Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber, a supporter of the initiative.

Anchored in the private sector, the GABF brings together Africa’s foremost executives with German companies, investors and innovators with the aim of driving change.

Founded in 2017 as a “private for privates”, the GABF encourages German investors to consider the African continent as a profitable and important investment destination. Through a series of initiatives, the GABF draws together African business and political leaders with Germany’s preeminent innovators to develop fresh investment concepts that shape German and African business ties, as well as economic thought.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Nigeria expected to be a major player at 2019 Africa Investment Forum

July 13, 2019

Nigeria is expected to feature significantly in the 2019 Africa Investment Forum scheduled to take place in Johannesburg, South Africa this November, business leaders and government heard at a roadshow event held in Abuja over the week.

Following the hugely successful inaugural edition held last year, the African Development Bank’s innovative investment marketplace set up to accelerate investment into the continent will convene for its second meeting from 11-13 November.

The Nigerian roadshow, held 9th July, was organized by the Nigeria Country Department of the Bank in collaboration with the Africa Finance Corporation. It was attended by key industry players, including, policy makers and representatives of state governments.

Speaking at the event, Ekiti State Governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi emphasized the role of private capital to deliver the infrastructure required to grow Nigeria’s economy and provide jobs for millions of young Nigerians.

“With the support of the African Development Bank and the African Finance Corporation, and the quality of investors that attended the inaugural edition in South Africa last year, I am confident that if we put our best foot forward, we will receive significant funding commitment for investments across Nigeria and the continent,’’ Fayemi said.

Senior Bank Director for the Nigeria Country Office Ebrima Faal, highlighted Nigeria’s prominence during the 2018 Forum. Nigeria was very visible. Out of the 63 boardroom deals presented at the Forum, Nigeria had 5 deals worth $7 Billion. This represents 14.9% of the total deals accounted for on the continent, and 43% of the deals accounted for the region.

“The African Development Bank and its partners are excited to present you with … the only platform that allows you to instantly pitch and close monumental deals on the spot. We encourage you to engage early and wholesomely to be a part of re-writing Africa’s economic history,’’ he urged.

According to Africa Finance Corporation Senior Director Taiwo Adeniji, “building on the success recorded in 2018, it is expected that Nigeria will be a major participant at the 2019 Forum. The Africa Finance Corporation is keen to support Nigerian businesses across sectors to ensure effective project implementation to boost economic development.’’

The Nigeria roadshow included highlights and key lessons from the 2018 forum, project preparation guidelines as well as presentations on selected pipelines.

“We are now seeing positive momentum in building transparent and durable institutions to anchor the political economy, promote and support the development of the private sector, in order to increase the pace, depth, and spread of economic growth,’’ Faal said.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.