From 19 to 21 March, One Whitehall Place in London will host the Africa Investment Summit 2012, a three-day event that brings together investors from the United Kingdom and Europe with African entrepreneurs and business opportunities.
The goals of the prestigious Africa Investment Summit are to examine major business sectors and asset classes on the African continent, highlighting those that will perform well in the future and thus provide the greatest return on investment.
Investors will be provided with viable business opportunities to invest in, with the hopes of high economic returns as well as the upliftment of Africa as an economic player in the global marketplace. The Africa Investment Summit is being held alongside Private Equity World Africa, which is an event that brings together LPs and GPs who are in search of private-equity investment opportunities in Africa, and together these two events pack a formidable financial punch.
The Private Equity World Africa event will be held at the same time as Africa Investment Summit at Whitehall Place, and will explore opportunities that will tie in with those discussed at the Africa Investment Summit. The Private Equity World Event agenda will incorporate advice for pursuing equities that have attractive private equity returns, entering markets with attractive equity investments, structuring positive partnerships with LPs and GPs, and uncovering private equity opportunities in Africa’s better-performing industries. These discussion forums go hand-in-hand with the Africa Investment Summit and the two are closely linked.
The Africa Investment Summit will be packed with discussions, debates and presentations lead by prominent speakers and industry professionals. The agenda will include, among others, topics such as the impact of disposable income leading to immediate returns, the new multi-national business framework, advice on driving business forward into Africa, as well as an exploration on access to capital and the thriving of SMEs in this economic climate. Key speakers will conduct an analysis of private equity in Africa compared to other emerging markets, the ‘West’ outside of Nigeria and the potential economic growth of other West African countries. The summit will outline which present sectors are hot in Africa, as well as identifying and understanding new fund structures. There will also be a number of case studies, including a critical analysis of South Africa and whether the most westernised economy in Africa suffers from viable risk. As a key mandate of the event is sustainable dialogue, the summit will seek to ensure long–term engagement with domestic institutions.
Building on the tremendous success of the previous Africa Investment Summit events, a number of notable figures in the industry have been lined up to present at this year’s conference. Among them will be Patrick O’Flaherty, the CEO of African Alliance Securities, Samuel Ogbu, CEO of Liberty Properties, Chris West, director of the Shell Foundation, and Jurgen Rigterink, CIO of FMO.
Delegates will be given insight into the key drivers behind Africa becoming the new hot spot for investment, cautionary information on why certain businesses have flourished while others have floundered, as well as choosing the ideal opportunity to invest and the factors that have pushed Africa’s economy upwards in the global marketplace. Most importantly, there will also be opportunities for delegates and exhibiting enterprises to network and lay foundations for future business transactions.
Thanks to events like Africa Investment Summit, investment in African businesses has a strong, attractive, and financially viable future.
