Marketing and public relations house Siyenza aims to focus on the trade and investment aspect of the Africa Energy Indaba event this year by assessing the number and quantum of deals conducted during the Business Matchmaking Programme, states Siyenza MD Liz Hart.

“With a strategic partnership with the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA), we aim to ensure that business is concluded and energy deals are done at the event.”

Siyenza organises the Africa Energy Indaba, a yearly event held in Johannesburg, South Africa. The sixth edition of the event will run from February 18 to 20 this year, with Energising Africa’s Growth and Development as its theme.

Hart says that the formal Business Matchmaking Programme at the event will be expanded for the first time by the study conducted after this year’s indaba. It will be done in conjunction with its strategic event partners and the GGDA.

The business programme will enable delegates to engage face-to-face with this year’s high-level speakers, exhibitors and sponsors at facilitated private meetings during the indaba, Hart explains, adding that delegates can increase their participation at the indaba through these meetings.

The 2013 Business Matchmaking Programme resulted in 2 192 meeting requests and Siyenza expects this to increase substantially for the 2014 event.

“We believe that the 2014 Africa Energy Indaba will be our largest event to date, with high attendance expected from CEOs, Energy Ministers and heads of African energy utilities. For energy companies, this means the opportunity to interact with and meet people across the African energy sector who can help grow and expand businesses.”

The number of international companies attending the indaba this year has increased by 15% and that of local companies by 18%. The event will host 60 exhibitors, including the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development; the Central Energy Fund; one of the most frequent exhibitors, American manufacturer of photovoltaic modules for solar energy First Solar; and Zimbabwe Country Pavilion, hosted by the Zimbabwe Energy Council.

“Africa is a continent of contrasts. It is the fastest urbanising continent in the world and must provide energy to meet the yearly urban growth rate, which is twice as high as that of Asia and Latin America. Simultaneously, as home to the poorest of the poor, it must innovate energy solutions for 50% of the world’s impoverished. The Africa Energy Indaba will be the forum and business networking opportunity for decision-makers and leading role-players planning and developing Africa’s energy future,” says Hart.

While delegates can look forward to listening to key speakers, such as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Planning and Coordinating Agency CEO Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, World Energy Council secretary-general Dr Christoph Frei and International Energy Agency deputy executive director Kenneth Fairfax, Hart adds that the 2014 indaba will feature several new events.

The first in a series of leadership events, the Indaba Energy Leader Dialogues will be hosted for Energy Ministers from Africa and CEOs of major energy companies to engage in active dialogue on key challenges and new opportunities, as well as the development of the African energy sector.

Other events include the launch and profile of the Sustainable Energy For All (SE4ALL) workshop and the Africa Energy Projects Roundtable forum.

SE4ALL is an initiative launched by United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon and brings all key actors to the table to make sustainable energy a reality for all by 2030.

Hart comments that Ban is leading the SE4ALL global initiative to mobilise action from all sectors of society in support of three interlinked objectives to be achieved by 2030. These include providing universal access to modern energy services, doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.

Owing to energy projects in Africa being key to the development of the continent’s energy sector, the Africa Energy Projects Roundtable forum will be included at the indaba to discuss viable energy projects, says Hart.

“Business is constantly exploring projects and faces the task of trying to unpack the ‘real’ energy projects, paired with those that would provide the best return on investment”.

Another first for the indaba this year is the content of the discussion topics, says Hart. “For the first time, we have adopted a scientific approach to the topics as part of the programme.”

Strategic partners to the event the World Energy Council and the Southern African National Energy Association con- ducted a survey of CEOs of energy companies throughout the world, titled ‘What keeps energy leaders awake at night?’, and the results “provided interesting feedback and valuable research content about what energy leaders want to know”.

The results formed the basis of key topics to be discussed, one of which is the energy–water – food nexus, in which the contrasting, yet complementary, interests of water, food and energy are investigated to find a balance that will serve African development.

Other topics include skills development for the energy sector and the role of government and the market in energy security, as well as regional interconnection. “This concerns the desire for pipeline and powerline interconnections, owing to primary energy sources, centres of economic activity and the level of energy demand being unevenly spread across the continent,” she concludes.