Join us at AFC Live, Africa's Premier Infrastructure Summit, to explore trade secrets, new opportunities and tested solutions towards transforming the infrastructure landscape across Africa.

The Summit, which is the first of its kind to be organized by a leading player in African infrastructure, will bring together captains of industry and thought leaders within the public and private sectors of African infrastructure.

SEE: Ian Bremmer Confirmed as Keynote Speaker for AFC Live

Where and when?
AFCLIVE2017 will, once again take place in Nigeria, where AFC is headquartered. The capital city, Abuja, is a strategic location for us to hold this summit, given its location in the centre of Nigeria, within the Federal Capital Territory. The Summit will take place over two days from 15th to 16th May 2017.

Format and structure
The will include a high level Leaders Panel themed 'The Infrastructure Revolution: Where Next' where various Heads of States will discuss the state of infrastructure along with the specific challenges and opportunities in their respective countries.

Given that we will be celebrating our 10th Anniversary we will host a Gala Dinner with a Special Keynote Speaker in addition, to a series of working lunches on key issues relating to infrastructure investments in the key sectors of Energy; Power, Petroleum; Extractive Industries; Climate Change; Transport and Logistics; Trade and industry; Environment. This will also present an opportunity to connect financiers, project developers, public sector officials and practitioners in the industry.

We are also very excited to present a dialogue that we have titled 'The Great Debate' on Investing Infrastructure – Financial Suicide or Development Revolution, where representatives from private sector, investment banks, public sector and multi-laterals will talk about their role in solving the infrastructure conundrum in Africa, with a specific emphasis on where government needs to step in -and step out.

Why is AFCLive i mportant?
International investors have a critical role to play and it is African institutions like AFC, with our unique knowledge of the continent's operating environment and challenges that will be the deciding factor in bridging the infrastructure gap.

Our mission, working in partnership with our national, regional and international stakeholders is to address Africa's pressing infrastructure investment and development needs, whilst delivering competitive financial returns and positive social impact. This unique mandate brings together the capital and commercial mindset of the African private sector with African governments to deliver an African – led solutions to the continent's infrastructure challenges.

Following the very successful AFCLive held in 2014 under the theme 'Bridging the Infrastructure Investment Divide' and given that next year will mark the Corporation's 10th anniversary, it is both timely and relevant that we convene, once again to take stock of where we are and to strategize about the way forward.

We are calling this next edition AFRICALIVE2017: CONNECT. ENGAGE. INNOVATE where we will further unpack the Infrastructure Revolution.

What will be discussed?
This is a Summit for productive discussion and dissemination of innovative ideas. Our focus is primarily on five key sector that we believe will drive development quickest, specifically these are natural resources, heavy industry, telecommunications, transportation and power.

Our Exhibition and Investor Summit will provide key industry players in these sectors to showcase their product and services in and interactive space. Throughout the Summit there will be opportunities to hear case studies of AFC's flagship projects which are focused on the transformative role of infrastructure in Africa's development. Among these investments are the US$365 million Henri Konan Bedie Bridge public/private partnership (PPP) project in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire; the US$160 million Bakwena Highway in South Africa, running from Pretoria to the Botswana border; and the US$90 million 26MW Cabeolica wind farm project in Cape Verde.

AFC is also the lead project developer, institutional investment and controlling shareholder in Cenpower. Once completed, this will be the largest private independent power plant and one of the most efficient, reliable and sustainable state of the art electricity supply in Ghana. We are going to showcase this as the first independent power project to receive over 80% of debt finance from African banks and African financial institutions.

In addition, it is Ghana's first licensed thermal power plant and the first project financed greenfield thermal plant. It is Japanese investor Sumitomo's first thermal IPP investment in Africa – a testimony to the growing attractiveness of Ghana as an investment destination for major power projects.

Who is expected to attend?
As an independent, majority private-sector owned multi-lateral African financial institution, we are open to sovereign states, central banks, financial institutions, public and private banks, corporate and industrial institutions and international private investors. Therefore we are expecting over 500 Political and business leaders from across Africa and around the world, including multilateral and multinational institutions, policymakers and other stakeholders.

We have many partners across the continent, including: African Development Bank, African Export-Import Bank, PTA Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Banque Quest Africaine de Dévelopement, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA); and Internationally with the China Africa Fund, the Infrastructure Development Finance Company of India (IDFC), FMO, PROPARCO, DEG and the US Government through USAID in the US Presidential "Power Africa Initiative" Internally, AFC is driven by a diverse team of experienced professionals from investment banking, engineering and other backgrounds, who devote their expertise to AFCs wide spectrum of projects. The Corporation's top team will all be present at AFCLive2017 to share their insights and expertise.

What are the expected outcomes?
We believe that where AFC adds true value is its proactive participation across the infrastructure value chain. We hope, therefore to focus outcomes on three complementary service areas: project development, financial advisory and principal investing.

Our goal at the end of the Summit is to move further along in filling key market gaps by addressing some of the infrastructure deficit causes.

Our aim is to identify new opportunities and new deals, using our project concept to completion model and to ensure that these identified investment projects are well structured and reach financial close. We want to share and expand on our approach to innovative financing and to 'finding the African Solution'.

As an institution that is For Africa, By Africa, we will be sharing the reality of infrastructure funding, explaining the domestic and inter-regional trends in investment and highlighting the new types of investment and investors helping to bridge the Africa infrastructure gap along with the new financing models designed to close this gap

What are notable successes to date?
Since inception in 2007, AFC has been actively involved in originating, structuring and executing a large volume of projects and transactions in the African infrastructure space. We have carried out in-depth reviews of over 700 potential investments of various types. These were across Africa, in all of our five main target sectors – power, transportation infrastructure, telecommunications, natural resources (oil, gas and mining) and heavy industry – deploying all our financial instruments – debt, equity, mezzanine, guarantees.

In aggregate, these transactions represent a total AFC potential investment of more than US$5 billion, with no single sector contributing more than 25 percent. AFC operates a project portfolio that has seen over US$1.2 billion in gross debt and equity investment approvals since 2008. We are increasingly being seen as a partner of choice for developers, financiers and sponsors of infrastructure investments across the continent.

POWER
In 2010, AFC acquired a 46 percent stake in Cenpower Generation Company Limited, where we have acted as lead developer of the 340 megawatt Kpone Independent Power Plant in Tema, Ghana. This power plant will make a major contribution to Ghana, helping the country to meet its targets for providing electricity to its rapidly growing economy. We are bringing this project to financial close and construction commencement with the strong Q & A 5 support of the Government of Ghana and our local and international development partners.

This complements other power sector projects we have supported, such as the landmark Cabeolica renewable wind power project in Cape Verde. The Cabeolica project is the first commercial scale public-private partnership (PPP) wind farm in Sub-Saharan Africa. AFC is the lead investor in Cabeolica, which was established to develop, build, own and operate the 26MW wind power project which is now operational and has been providing the island state with more than 20% of its power needs.

This investment underscores our commitment to financial innovation and energy source diversification in Africa.

TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE
In this sector AFC has made an equity investment in the Bakwena Toll Road Concession Company.

The Bakwena Highway group signed the concession agreement with the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the Platinum Toll Highway in 2000. The highway consists of a 95 km section of the N1 running from Pretoria (Tshwane) northwards to the town of Bela Bela and a 290 km section of the N4 running from Pretoria westwards to the Botswana border.

Through this transaction, AFC demonstrated our commitment to creating a robust secondary market for infrastructure assets in Africa, in support of successfully developed projects. Our other noteworthy infrastructure project is the Henri Konan Bedie Bridge, which is a US$365 million public private partnership (PPP) project in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. This project consists of a 6.4km highway and 1.9km bridge with three lanes in each direction across the Ebrié lagoon, connecting Abidjan's residential Riviera district directly with the commercial district of Marcory. The new bridge eliminates the need to use the heavily congested 9km route via existing bridges and includes a toll station on the north side of the lagoon and footbridges for pedestrians.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS
AFC is the largest equity investor in the US$240m African-led Main One Cable System. A 12,400km submarine fibre optic cable system linking North, West and Southern Africa to Europe, dramatically increasing regional connectivity and bandwidth. This project, which was financed during the global financial crisis, was completed on time and to budget and brings important developmental benefits to the countries in which the cable lands. We are pleased to have received the 2010 African Banker Magazine's Deal of the Year award for our role in this project.

NATURAL RESOURCES (OIL, GAS AND MINING)
In the oil and gas sector, we have invested in Seven Energy Limited. Seven Energy, through its local subsidiary in Nigeria, Septa Energy Limited, is playing a critical and pioneering role in developing gas infrastructure for domestic use in Nigeria.

This is crucial for the generation of electricity and the development of a number of industries. We were also providers of debt financing, through a US$1.25 billion international loan syndication to Kosmos Oil and Gas for its development of the Jubilee Field in Ghana. This was the largest oil and gas discovery on the west coast of Africa in a decade. The Jubilee field came on stream with AFC's financing support in late 2010 and has become a very significant contributor to the Ghanaian economy.

HEAVY INDUSTRY
AFC is the leading private financier of electricity infrastructure in Nigeria, having spear-headed the advocacy and industry reform work that led to the landmark electricity sector privatization in the country. In support of the successful reforms by the government, AFC has committed nearly US$200 million of its own balance sheet, and mobilized significant amounts from third parties into well-structured deals by strong private sponsors in the sector.

These investments have helped open up Africa's largest electricity market to much needed private capital, expertise and governance. In addition to utilizing our balance sheet for investments, AFC has also deployed its technical expertise in the execution of a number of advisory assignments, most notably its appointment as Technical Adviser to the Central Bank of Nigeria in respect of its US$2 billion Power and Aviation Intervention Fund. 

How can we scale up Africa's success stories in infrastructure?

We want to encourage private and public sectors to work more closely together as part of the development financing mix. Long term, sustainable sources of finance needed to continue developing infrastructure that underpins economic growth. African-based investors to play a greater role in the development of our continent by structuring infrastructure projects in the right way for investors.

As AFC, we pride ourselves in being the lead adviser, financier, developer and arranger of infrastructure projects on the continent. We believe in an effective partnership between public and private sources of funding. Our structure allows us to work directly with project sponsors and governments. It is a fact that African governments lack the resources to fund large scale projects on their own and to date private investors have only participated in African infrastructure and in small doses.

We need to do more to eliminate risks, both real and perceived that have dissuaded investors so far and mobilise international investors to finance African infrastructure projects. Ultimately, our goal is generate significant returns for investors through our projects, thereby transforming the economic landscape and delivering tangible benefits for African citizens.