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GE Africa (Lagos)

Three Firms Join Forces to Tackle Africa's Infrastructure Deficit

With rapid urbanization and a growing middle class, Africa needs to spend $90bn a year for the next decade in order to upgrade and maintain its existing infrastructure. At the 2016 annual meetings of the African Development Bank, GE together with the Mara Group and Atlas Merchant Capital announced they will be leading the charge through an initiative to create a joint venture dedicated to investing in the African infrastructure sector. The joint venture will seek to invest in infrastructure equity projects in selected countries throughout Africa. More here. More about GE in Africa in this BRIEFING

"Africa is a continent of 54 countries, but there is very low connectivity between them. Intra-African trade, a key driver for economic growth, represents only a fraction of Africa's total trade over the past decade and this is largely due to a growing shortfall in infrastructure development. Through our joint venture with GE and Atlas Merchant Capital, we hope to tackle the funding deficit by creating a platform that has the power to truly change the lives of those living on the continent" - Ashish J. Thakkar, Founder, Mara Group & Mara Foundation.

Jay Ireland, President and CEO GE Africa and Ashish J Thakkar, Founder, Mara Group held a press conference during the AfDB annual meetings in Lusaka, Zambia, to announce GE together with the Mara Group and Atlas Merchant Capital will lead an initiative to create a joint venture dedicated to investing in the highly underdeveloped African infrastructure sector. The joint venture will focus on a broad set of segments by facilitating access to capital, thus offering the ability to execute and fully finance both advanced and early development stage projects.

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