The African Development Bank (AfDB) and Made in Africa Foundation (MAIF) partnership has launched the fundraising for the Africa50 infrastructure fund, which is aimed at co-marketing initiatives that will initiate funding for Africa’s largest infrastructure delivery vehicle.
With their main objective being reducing timing required to develop infrastructure projects in Africa, Africa50 is the product of experience and innovation.
Over the past five years, AfDB has delivered over USD 5.4 billion in critical infrastructure investment in Africa through private sector and public-private partnership financing.
MIAF came to be when internationally renowned Ghanaian-born designer Ozwald Boateng and leading Nigerian entrepreneur Kola Aluko of Atlantic Energy realized that investing in project development could change the course of economic development for Africa.
The alliance between MIAF and AfDB aims to raise up to USD 500 million for Africa50′s project development arm by the first half of 2014.
The partnership effort between MIAF and AfDB was supported live by Boateng; Aluko; Sam Kutesa, Uganda’s current Minister of Foreign Affairs and the next president of the United Nations General Assembly; Tas Anvaripour, Team Leader for Africa50; and Anne Kabagambe, Chief of Staff and Director of Cabinet at the President’s office of the AfDB.
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The Africa50 will have two arms of funding which are Project Development and Project Financing. AfDB President Donald Kaberuka explained this: “to increase the rate of infrastructure delivery in Africa we need to speed up project preparation and project development. The critical objective is to shorten the time between the idea and financial close from a current average of seven years to less than three years.”
Tas Anvaripour, Team Leader of Africa50, notes that: “African infrastructure projects are increasingly capturing the attention of investors worldwide. However, the number of bankable infrastructure projects brought to market is still insufficient, even though they offer an excellent way to diversify investment portfolios and steady, long-term, and above average returns.”
