The African Development Bank has taken to roadshows as a vehicle to present the financial products and investment opportunities in Africa to Nordic investors in order to leverage more access to financing.
The roadshows brought together more than 50 private sector companies, investors and government and public institutions in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark.
Aimed at bringing the Bank closer to customers in order to increase awareness of key private sector stakeholders to understand the Bank’s financial and risk mitigation products for investment projects, the roadshows also served to generate needed interests of businesses to the Africa Investment Forum, the Bank’s maiden market place, scheduled for November 7-9 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The first of the roadshows took place in Norway on September 24-25 followed by Sweden on September 27- 28. In Finland, the Bank met key private sector companies, private funds, and pension funds from 1-2 October and the final event was in Denmark on October 4-5.
The Bank presented its game plan for the transformation of African economies and showcased investment opportunities on the continent. The highly interactive event targeted commercial banks, institutional investors including pension funds, asset managers and insurers as well as individual investors across the Nordic region.
“Nordic countries are very important for the development of Africa and we want to see more investments coming from these countries. Hence, the roadshow organised to showcase African investment opportunities and to present the Bank as a gateway for their investments,” said Olivier Eweck, Director, Syndication, Co-financing and Client Solutions Department, in a release issued by APO Group, on behalf of the bank.
READ ALSO: Seme Customs Area Command generates over N1b in 2 months
The release further quoted Eweck as saying “several private investors and companies have shown keen interest in the Africa Investment Forum.”
The African Development Bank team discussed key roles in accelerating Africa’s investment opportunities across the Nordic region in line with its development priorities for Africa as enshrined in the High 5s.
The release noted that “the Bank sees its partnership with long-term investors from the Nordic region as important and welcomes their perspective and visions to support new investments in infrastructure, and to foster sustainable development initiatives in Africa.”
The Africa Investment Forum is a new and unique platform for international business and social impact investors looking to do business and invest funds in Africa. It is expected to connect investors with both public and private sector projects throughout the continent.
The Bank also expects that holding the event under one roof would provide an ideal platform for interfacing with its partners, reduce intermediation costs, improve the quality of project information and documentation, and increase action-oriented engagements between African governments and the private sector.
