Africa has great prospects for investors, with a growing consumer market that Indian firms cannot afford to miss, Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala, acting senior vice-president and chief financial officer of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), has said.
Tshabalala highlighted the business potential in Africa during a recent virtual conference hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and its partners.
She said: “The positive outlook for Africa is reinforced by the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which seeks to deepen regional integration across the continent and allow the free movement of people and trade across borders.”
Tshabalala said there was a tremendous opportunity for Indian industry to work together with the Bank in sectors such as power generation and transmission, energy, agricultural transformation, health care and pharmaceuticals, technology, transportation and industrialisation.
She said the AfDB is seeking to expand the number of bankable projects in Africa and has set aside US$100 million for project preparation activities in low-income countries. It is also keen to mobilise greater private sector participation in these projects from all countries.
Akhilesh Mishra, India’s additional secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, urged the private sector to consider investing in youth and start-ups because these sectors have enormous potential for employment generation.
Aside from the long-term funding usually provided as official development assistance, African countries will require more targeted, short-term financing, he said.
Minimising risk
David Rasquinha, managing director of the Export-Import Bank of India, spoke of the need to expand Indian financial inflows to Africa by expanding the Indian banking network.
He said India and Africa could work together in areas such as health care and pharmaceuticals, the financial sector and infrastructure development.
Nana Spio-Garbrah, the chief financing analyst from the African Development Bank’s syndications, co-financing and client solutions department, spoke about the Bank’s capacity to mitigate risk for foreign investors, especially in this era of COVID-19.
Spio-Garbrah also talked about the Bank’s Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG) and Partial Credit Guarantee (PCG), which has been upgraded to meet client needs better.
The Bank’s syndication services, particularly the A/B loan product, allow B-lenders to benefit from the Bank’s preferred creditor status, she said. Spio-Garbrah further cited the Co-guarantee platform – a new co-operative of four risk mitigation providers and the African Union, which pools their capacities to de-risk African projects.
Forging partnerships
Takashi Hanajiri, the head of the AfDB’s Asia External Representation Office, made a presentation on the partnership between India and the AfDB and the Bank’s COVID-19 Response Facility.
Hanajiri pointed out the huge potential of the “Africa Investment Forum” and encouraged Indian partners to participate to find investment opportunities in Africa.
The panellists also included representatives from the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development and Absa Bank, who introduced their financial products and services.
The “Conference on Innovative Financing Mechanisms for Doing Business with Africa” attracted more than 600 participants from over 45 countries.
Besides Africa and India, there were participants from the Middle East, Europe and other parts of Asia, representing businesses, governments, financial institutions and business promotion agencies.
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