Africa to host premier investment, finance forum

A Private Public Dialogue on Impact Investment, overseen by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will take place during this year’s Africa Finance and Investment Forum 2015 (AFIF 2015), to be held in Cape Town, South Africa from 24-26 November.

Held for the first time in Africa, AFIF is expected to bring together 300 delegates from all over Africa, Europe, America and Middle East.

“Africa’s impact investment sector is still nascent, with approximately only $9 billion worth of impact investments deployed in the continent. The time is ripe, therefore, for African policy makers, investors and other key sector players to devise practical solutions that will help improve impact investment practice in Africa and stimulate the sector to grow to its true potential,” explains Tomas Sales, Special Adviser Private Sector AFIM Unit UNDP RSCA, in the run-up to AFIF 2015.

This inaugural PPD provides a platform through which the public and private sector in Africa can discuss, agree and follow up on concrete interventions to catalyse the impact investment sector and contribute towards the achievement of the African Union and the recently ratified Sustainable Development Goals.

“The PPD will facilitate the exchange of information and collaboration between key public and private sector players, and will feature plenary keynote addresses and a technical working and negotiation session to map the next steps in growing the sector,” adds Sales. This will culminate in the development and endorsement of a Cape Town Outcome Declaration, advancing an “Impact Investment in Africa” Action Plan & Roadmap. The impact investment theme, a first for AFIF, is a component within the forum’s general theme “Access to Finance & Entrepreneurship”, which will also focus on innovative financial solutions to assist Africa’s businesses, showcasing the financial challenges and opportunities in agriculture, health, infrastructure and energy.

This year AFIF will include a pre-conference training on entrepreneurship, and informal networking activities. AFIF will also incorporate the “AFIF Entrepreneurship Award 2015”, a competition supported by the Rabobank Foundation.