Invest Africa Insights

As 2022 draws to a close, Invest Africa's CEO, Karen Taylor, speaks with Amir Hussain, Senior Underwriter - Political Risk and Trade Credit of Africa Speciality Risks, and Robert Besseling, Founder and CEO of PANGEA-RISK, to discuss what lies ahead for the countries on the African continent in 2023. Despite the uncertainty surrounding upcoming elections, the growing opportunities to implement successful debt restructuring initiatives and investment in Africa's renewable energy sector leave enough room for an optimistic outlook. 

On this episode of Invest Africa Insights we speak with Daniel Yu, CEO and Co-Founder of Wasoko, transforming informal retail across Africa. The sector accounts for up to 80% of employment and 50% of GDP on the continent and Daniel explains how Wasoko is empowering traders across Africa.

External headwinds influencing Africa's cost of living crisis is transforming the geopolitical landscape across the continent. Genevieve Ahinful, Head of Political Risk Insurance and Amir Hussain, Senior Underwriter, at Africa Specialty Risks, outline how businesses are navigating these uncertainties, amidst three major upcoming elections. For more information on Africa Specialty Risks, visit their website: www.asr-re.com

Africa's importance as a strategic partner of the UK, premised on geopolitical realignments and advancing the sustainable development agenda, is growing. Oliver Phillips, Director, Sustainable Finance at Standard Chartered Bank explains where the natural synergies between the two jurisdictions lie and how to regenerate the relationship based on strategic investments of mutual benefit. Access Invest Africa and Standard Chartered Bank's joint report here. 

This week on Invest Africa Insights we spoke to Bhairav Trivedi, CEO of Crown Agents Bank, about how fintech is disrupting banking in Africa and the role of digital currencies in enabling cross-border payments as the continent looks to boost regional trade. More information about Crown Agents Bank: https://www.crownagentsbank.com/ More information about Invest Africa: www.investafrica.com

This week on Invest Africa Insights we speak to Fred Steiner, Managing Director, BCCM Advisors about why we have only seen the start of tech's potential in Africa, Egypt's rapid rise as a tech hub and his approach to investing in high-growth businesses.  For more information about BCCM Advisors: https://bccmadvisors.com/ For more information about Invest Africa: www.investafrica.com

This time on Invest Africa Insights, we looked back on COP26 and how Africa fared at the talks with Dr. Rufaro Mucheka, Business Development Consultant - Africa, Jersey Finance. With environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards moving up the agenda for global investors and businesses, we ask how Africa better access sustainable finance and what more needs to be done to ensure that stakeholders come back to to COP27 with renewed commitments. 

On Invest Africa Insights today, we spoke with Thabo Makoko, Managing Director, Transactional Banking African Regional Operations at Absa Group on the changing trends in Africa's transaction banking landscape. With the flood of digital banking solutions across the continent, we discuss how banks can partner with local and regional fintech players to become the enablers to the unbanked and how central banks across Africa will look to regulate new digital currencies.  For more information on Absa and their work, please visit: https://www.absa.africa/absaafrica/ For more information on Invest Africa, please visit: https://www.investafrica.com/

On Invest Africa Insights we spoke to Marco Serena, Head of Sustainable Development Impact at the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) about investing in climate resilient infrastructure in Africa. The Continent faces the triple challenge of meeting its socio-economic development goals, building climate resilience and responding to the challenge of Covid-19. Infrastructure sits at the heart of these challenges and it is essential that the Continent is not locked in to high emissions model. For more information about PIDG: www.pidg.org For more information about the PIDG Climate Strategy: https://www.pidg.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/PIDG-climate-change-strategy-paper-2021-dev-18.pdf For more information about Invest Africa: www.investafrica.com

The US market remains an untapped source of capital for Africa while Africa is an untapped opportunity for American investors. This week on Invest Africa Insights we spoke to Karl Littlejohn, Acting Chief of Party of the USAID West Africa Trade & Investment Hub, about how the the Hub plans to support up to $400 million of new private investment in the West Africa region. For more information about the West Africa Trade & Investment Hub:  Web: https://westafricatradehub.com/  Twitter: @WestAfricaHub Linkedin: West Africa Trade & Investment Hub For more information about Invest Africa: Web: www.investafrica.com Twitter: @InvestAfrica1  Linkedin: Invest Africa Ltd.