The African Development Bank in a multidisciplinary team roadshows has presented financial products and investment opportunities to Nordic investors 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.
The aim of the event was to bring 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 generated significant 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 roadshow 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 October 1-2 and the final event was in Denmark on October 4-5.
The Bank presented its strategy 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 organized 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, adding that: “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 the Bank’s development priorities for Africa as enshrined in the High 5s.
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 novel platform for international business and social impact investors looking to transact and invest funds in Africa. It will connect investors with both public and private sector projects throughout the continent.
The Bank 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.