IGD's Africa Investment Rising U.S. Roadshow Tour Builds Momentum and Action On Increasing Greater U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment

The Initiative for Global Development (IGD) concluded its inaugural U.S. roadshow tour, which was held from April 18-May 1, to showcase the tremendous business and investment potential in Africa.

The full roadshow tour will culminate in Johannesburg, South Africa for IGD's Frontier 100 Forum and African Development Bank's Africa Investment Forum in early-November.

An engaging forum and executive speed networking with U.S. and African private sector leaders and investors will provide a platform to make deals and business agreements to create new markets in both regions.

- The U.S. portion of Initiative for Global Development's inaugural Africa Investment Rising Roadshow Tour concluded on May 1 in Houston, Texas.

The U.S. roadshow tour, "Africa Investment Rising: Building Momentum for Investing in Africa's Economic Prosperity", which took place from April 18-May 1, traveled to four U.S. cities to re-shape perceptions on doing business in Africa by bringing trade and investment opportunities to U.S. companies and forge stronger connections between U.S. and African business leaders in key growth sectors.

"For the past two weeks, we've started building awareness and momentum for increasing trade and investment in Africa," exclaimed Dr. Mima S. Nedelcovych, president and CEO of the Initiative for Global Development (IGD) at the closing reception at the Houston Club.

"The Africa Investment Rising roadshow tour is just the start of accelerating a strong economic partnership between the U.S. and the African region," said the IGD president. The Initiative for Global Development (IGD) is a network of Africa, U.S. and global business leaders who are committed to sustainable development and inclusive growth through business investment in Africa.

Launching in Washington, D.C., the roadshow tour traveled to New York City to highlight banking, financing, and investment opportunities; Des Moines, IA for agriculture and agro-industry; and Houston, TX for energy and power.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and USAID's East Africa and Southern Africa Trade and Investment Hubs are Sponsors of the U.S. Roadshow Tour.

Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world, consistently averaging GDP growth of 5.2 percent. Today, only about 1.5 percent of U.S. exports are flowing into sub-Saharan Africa.

Each roadshow stop featured panel discussions on the trends, opportunities and constraints to trade and investment in that sector. The speed networking and company match among investors and business leaders, led by representatives from the Southern and East Africa Trade and Investment Hubs, offered tangible opportunities on how to enter the African marketplace to spur greater U.S. investment in Africa.

Exclusive site visits with an IGD-led delegation drew attention to the pioneering innovations in each industry sector. The delegation met with Dan Keeler, Frontier Markets editor at the Wall Street Journal in New York City on re-shaping news coverage of Africa and participated in site visits to Corteva Agriscience™, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont™ in Johnston, IA and ISU Research Park in Ames, IA for agribusiness and The Eaton Experience Center for power generation in Houston.

The full roadshow tour will ultimately culminate in Johannesburg, South Africa, where U.S. and African private sector leaders and investors from all sectors are invited to attend the IGD Frontier 100 Forum on Nov. 5-6. The Frontier 100 Forum will be followed by the African Development Bank's Africa Investment Forum (AIF) from Nov. 7-9, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Financing key growth sectors, such as agriculture, power and infrastructure, and finance and banking, will require an estimated $600-700 billion annually, the African Development Bank estimates.

The AIF is designed to enhance private-sector cooperation and drive investment in sectors to promote economic and social development on the African continent. The Bank's investment forum is a completely transactional marketplace dedicated to advancing projects to bankable stages, raising capital, and accelerating the financial closure of deals.

"The forum will be a landmark platform to scale up bankable projects and facilitate transactions to close the investment gap in Africa," said Hassatou Diop N'Sele, Treasurer and Director of the Treasury Department at the African Development Bank. N'Sele spoke on behalf of the Bank at the roadshow's opening reception on April 18 in Washington, DC.

IGD will continue to engage roadshow participants and investors interested in Africa through multimedia content, including blogs, video spotlights and webinars leading up to the November events in Johannesburg to generate ongoing interest among U.S. investor and business leaders to inspire action on investment opportunities in Africa.

"IGD is pleased to build on our partnership with the African Development Bank through the U.S. Roadshow Tour to accelerate Africa's investment opportunities and help attract private capital to the continent," said Nedelcoych. "By bringing U.S. investors to the Bank's investment forum, they will learn firsthand about bankable projects and will have the opportunities to broker deals that will deliver economic transformation in Africa."

Roadshow platinum sponsors are Chevron, Norton, Rose and Fulbright LLP, Iowa State University Research Park, AGCO; Lilium Capital, DAI, and Orrick; Gold sponsors are Thomson Reuters, John Deere, Sasol, Corteva Agriscience, Endeavor Energy, AllAfrica.com, and Eaton; and Silver sponsors are World Food Prize Foundation and Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Organizational Partners are PAN Diaspora Capital Management, Harris Africa Partners/Grant T. Harris, The Serendra Group LLC/Robert van Zwieten, U.S. Bilateral African Chamber of Commerce, Global Farmer Network, U.S. Small Business Administration, Invest Africa, PESA, Power Africa, and African Trade Magazine. Media partners are Africa Investor, Africa.com, African Alternative, African Trade Magazine, Africa Business Magazine, Africa Stopover, Afropop Worldwide, AllAfrica.com, AlloAfrica.com, Applause Africa, Asoko Insight, Face2Face Africa, innov8tiv.com, Oak TV, Pan-African Visions, and VoxAfrica.

The Initiative for Global Development (IGD) is a Washington, DC-based network of African and global business leaders who are committed to advancing sustainable development and inclusive growth in Africa through business investment. IGD brings together CEOs and senior executives from leading African and global companies through our Frontier Leader Network to catalyze greater business investment and impact on the African continent.

MEDIA CONTACT: Shanta Bryant Gyan, Initiative for Global Development * email, sbryant@igdleaders.org * phone, 202-412-4603

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