Independent US foreign assistance agency the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has partnered with infrastructure investment platform Africa50 to create a global investment platform to attract more capital to Africa.
The organisations have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop and launch the Millennium Impact for Infrastructure Accelerator (MIIA) Development Partnership.
The new MIIA entity will be a global investment platform designed to spur and attract impact investments in Africa by developing bankable infrastructure deals with measurable social and economic impacts.
Investments through MIIA will cover projects across sectors including water and sanitation, health, education, transportation, power and telecommunications.
Africa50 currently has ongoing infrastructure projects in Nigeria, Cameroon, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal.
MCC has programmes in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Morocco, Niger, Sierra Leone and Togo in implementation; and is developing programmes in Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, the Gambia and Tunisia.
MCC CEO Sean Cairncross says the organisation is very excited by this partnership and that the expectation is that it will help catalyse projects across the continent.
MIIA will be launched in Africa jointly with Africa50. The MIIA is part of MCC’s blended finance strategy to mobilise private capital, which is posits would create better opportunities and maximise the impact of projects that spur economic growth and reduce poverty.