The Global African Investment Summit (TGAIS) will be presented with 136 bankable projects, worth a combined total of $246-billion, in the natural resources, agribusiness, power and critical infrastructure sectors, when it takes place in London next week.
The summit, which will be chaired by the former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo, is seeking to direct funds from some of the world’s largest institutional investors into high-quality projects across Africa, with a focus on Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
“Today Africa stands as the last great frontier in emerging markets. Its attractiveness is real. More than $200-billion worth of capital under management will be represented at TGAIS. That is a staggering figure. It is money that I hope we can direct towards agribusinesses, power and energy projects, and vital infrastructure over the course of the summit,” Obasanjo said in a statement released on Friday.
Included in the 136 projects were a $5-billion crude-oil-pipeline development project in Uganda and a $341-million pineapple production and processing project in Ghana.
Infrastructure investors would also be able to engage the developers of the planned $13.5-billion Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali railway line and the teams behind port expansions and upgrades, urban rail and airport projects in Uganda and Ghana during the two-day event.
A range of power generation and distribution projects – spanning the full energy mix from traditional sources to renewables, and ranging from 35 MW to 4 800 MW in locations across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tunisia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Benin, Sierra Leone, Cameroon and South Africa – would also be pitched.
“Next week’s summit in London is critical in facilitating transactions and building a more nuanced understanding of risk and opportunity on the ground. The more people engage actively with the continent, embracing the contradictions, the unpredictability and the incredible thirst for innovation, the better they will be placed to identify outsized returns,” alternative asset management firm Duet Group chief investment officer Ayo Salami noted.