Africa is the World’s Next Business Frontier, Says AfDB President Adesina
African Development Bank President Akinwumi A. Adesina said on Wednesday that Africa remains a fertile ground for investment, hinging on the continent’s ability to boost its healthcare sector.
Adesina was speaking during the U.K Africa Investment Conference, a virtual one-day event organized by the UK Department for International Trade, which brought together UK and African business and government leaders to discuss investment and partnership opportunities.
The conference highlighted four sectors; sustainable infrastructure, renewable energy, financial and professional services, and agriculture and agri-tech.
As part of the conference, Emma Wade-Smith, Her Majesty’s UK Trade Commissioner for Africa, joined Adesina in a fireside chat on the theme “Building back better – utilizing UK private sector strengths and values, and business-to-business opportunities working with UK government and others going forward.”
Africa, Adesina said, still possesses the same fundamentals that drove the continent’s phenomenal growth over the past decade.
“The fundamentals in those phenomenal growth rates in Africa are still there. Africa still leads in terms of ease of doing business. It’s very exciting, the digital explosion that you see in Africa today,” Adesina said, listing among others the tide of mergers and acquisitions among African firms.
Wade-Smith said she was heartened to learn that 10 of the fastest-growing economies were still in Africa, adding that there was not enough awareness of how much innovation was happening in the region. She said there was an opportunity to blend African and UK innovation.
“I’ve been struck by how many opportunities there are,” Wade-Smith said.
British investors were urged to pay attention to Africa, “That’s where the next frontier is,” Adesina said.
Other participants included UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Minister for Africa James Duddridge, Minister for Investment Gerry Grimstone, as well as business leaders from Standard Bank, pharmaceuticals firm AstraZeneca and mobile operator Vodacom.
Johnson earlier told the conference that although “many things have changed” since last year, “there is one thing I can tell you that has not changed: that is my ambition for the UK to be Africa’s investment partner.”
The conference follows last year’s successful UK-Africa Investment Summit, hosted in London by the Prime Minister, where 27 trade and investment deals worth £6.5 billion and commitments valued at £8.9 billion were announced.
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