Issue 7: Exploring investment opportunities in Africa, the future of Africa's youth, and building global partnerships

From the Korea-Africa Summit in Seoul to the #G7 summit in Puglia, this month, the African Development Bank Group continued to hold the torch for Africa on the global stage.

In this edition of our newsletter, we recap our activities, including the outcomes for Africa from the G7 Summit, President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina’s stirring keynote address at Chatham House on envisioning #Africa's economic prospects, as well as our participation at the Japan-Africa Business Forum in Tokyo.

Korea-Africa Summit

At the opening of the Korea-Africa Summit, President Adesina urged African countries to take inspiration from the story of Korea’s economic transformation. On the sidelines of the summit, the Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-SURE), an export credit agency, and a Letter of Intent with the Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation, “for cooperation to foster infrastructure and urban development in African countries.”

During the Korea-Africa Agricultural Forum, Dr. Adesina and the Korean Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Song Mi-ryung, both agricultural economists, agreed on the need for climate-smart agriculture, to allow farmers to access better data, better predict climate patterns and use less water, among other benefits.

Minister Song Mi-ryung said having achieved self-sufficiency in rice production, Korea is now keenly assisting African countries to do the same through its K-Ricebelt, an initiative that provides high-yield rice seeds. Dr. Adesina noted the perfect synergy between K-RICE and the Bank’s $650 million Regional West Africa Rice Development (REWARD) program: “You can count on 100% support and partnership from the African Development Bank. Between Korea and the Bank, we can make Africa completely self-sufficient in rice.”

More on the summit: https://bit.ly/3L1Dnbt

#G7Summit

On the sidelines of the #G7Summit, Italy pledged to join US and EU efforts to promote sustainable development along the Lobito Transportation Corridor, a railway that snakes through mineral- and oil-rich parts of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia, connecting Southern and Central Africa, and providing access to Eastern Africa as well as a pathway to the Atlantic Ocean.?

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Dr. Adesina also discussed the upcoming launch of a series of joint initiatives to support the implementation of Italy’s Mattei Plan for Africa.

“Italy’s ‘Piano Mattei’ will foster economic and strategic partnerships with African nations and institutions, and the African Development Bank Group is our main strategic financial partner for its implementation. Our collaboration will sustain the development of initiatives with Africa’s public and private sectors, with additional opportunities for Italian businesses,” Prime Minister Meloni said.

View this pictorial summary of the summit:

The future of Africa’s youth is in Africa ?

During his keynote address at #ChathamHouse, African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina spoke about Africa’s central role in the global future thanks to its natural wealth and human capital.

?“The young people of Africa are the best assets we have, but we have to put our money to back them up to take on the world," he said.

On a related note, find out how an African Development Bank Group-funded project in #Benin is creating employment for young people, and an alternative to illegal immigration:

At Chatham House, Dr. Adesina also highlighted the Bank’s Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks (YEIBs) that will support young people’s businesses in Africa, as well as the Bank Group’s focus on women through its flagship Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (#AFAWA) program that aims to mobilize $5 billion for women-owned businesses across the continent.

Also mentioned in President Adesina’s in-depth speech: the Bank’s Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (#AGIA), which is working to mobilize $10 billion of private financing to fund Africa’s net zero transition, and its New Deal on Energy, that has resulted in increased access to electricity on the continent, from 32% to 57%.

He concluded on a hopeful note: “Africa will emerge as the pivotal continent. An Africa critical for the future of the world, an Africa thriving, peaceful and prosperous. It’s a vision Africa deserves. It’s a vision we must do all to achieve.”

“Africa will emerge as the pivotal continent. An Africa critical for the future of the world, an Africa thriving, peaceful and prosperous. It’s a vision Africa deserves. It’s a vision we must do all to achieve.” - Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank Group

?Read his full speech: https://bit.ly/3yTqhdC

What Africa does with its agriculture will have global impact

This month, the Bank Group and the government of Ethiopia, in partnership with the #Netherlands, fertilizer company OCP-Africa, and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA), launched a $94 million Climate Resilient Wheat Value Chain Development (CREW) project to transform #Ethiopia from a wheat importer to a self-sufficient producer and exporter.

The financing will support 500,000 smallholder farmer households to increase wheat productivity from three to four tons per hectare, generating an additional 1.62 million tons of wheat, and supporting the expansion of irrigation into the lowlands of the Afar and Somali regions.

The financing is expected to benefit 2.3 million people, half of them women, by increasing household incomes, creating jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities and strengthening food and nutrition security. More details: https://bit.ly/4b0f9Jc

In Sudan, an emergency wheat production project financed by the Bank under its $1.5 billion African Emergency Food Production Facility, and executed by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is helping to mitigate food insecurity – already, within the past year, wheat production in the country has increased by up to 70% in targeted project locations across 5 states.?

Under the project, climate-adapted wheat seeds and fertilisers were distributed to over 170,000 smallholder farmers in the five states during the 2023-2024 agricultural season. On average, farmers reported a 44% increase in productivity per hectare compared with the previous season.?

More on the Sudan wheat project: https://bit.ly/4cynzc3

Japan businesses looking to “grow together with Africa”

Ahead of the upcoming #TICAD9 conference, a high-level Bank delegation met with Japanese business association Keizai Doyukai on the sidelines of the Japan-Africa Business Forum held in Tokyo. The two parties committed to forging stronger ties to boost private investment and youth engagement in Africa.

"The spirit of Keizai Doyukai is to grow together with Africa, which means that Africa has to grow first," said Ken Shibusawa, CEO of Shibusawa and Co. and Chairperson of Keizai Doyukai's Japan-Middle East/Africa Relations Committee.?

The high-level Bank delegation present at the meeting drew attention to the various investment opportunities available on the continent and assured the association of the robustness of the Bank’s risk mitigation instruments.

Find a comprehensive overview of the Japan mission here: https://bit.ly/4cvlehV.

“If you're not in Africa, I wonder where else you’re putting your money.”

In a wide-ranging interview with BBC TV’s HARDtalk show host, Stephen Sackur, Bank Group President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina debunked the idea that Africa is a risky place in which to invest.

“Perception is not reality. Data matters,” he said, citing a Moody’s Analytics 14-year assessment that found that the risk of loss in Africa was 1.9%, compared with 12 per cent in Latin America and 10 per cent in North America. Acknowledging that there are challenges associated with investing on the continent, he noted that multilateral development banks such as the African Development Bank Group exist to mitigate these challenges. “Africa is still the place to be,” he concluded.

Watch this excerpt from the interview:

Value addition is key to Africa's future

President Adesina’s interview with CNN’s Eleni Giokos provided another opportunity for him to share his strong belief in the African potential, the critical role that technology and value addition will play in unlocking the continent’s prosperity, and the contributions of the African Development Bank Group to the achievement of this goal.

“The export of raw materials is the door to poverty. And the export of value-added manufactured products is a highway to wealth.” - Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank Group

Artificial Intelligence (AI), he said, will add $1.2 trillion to the African economy, while local processing of green metals will position the continent to benefit maximally from an electric vehicle industry projected to grow to $57 trillion by 2050.

The question, Dr. Adesina said, is whether Africa will content itself with selling raw lithium to the world, or will seek to convert the lithium to batteries before sending to market. “The export of raw materials is the door to poverty. And the export of value-added manufactured products is a highway to wealth,” he declared.

In his closing remarks, he disclosed that the African Development Bank Group has, through its Africa Investment Forum (AIF), launched in 2018, mobilized $180 billion of investment interest in high-impact projects across the continent.

Watch the interview below.

News

2024 Annual Meetings: The Africa Circular Economy Facility seeks to boost African economies through green growth innovation

AfDB President looks back after eight years at the top

African Development Bank and ICRC stress co-creation to build resilience in Africa

Work with us

Senior Water and Sanitation Officer

Principal Health Economist

Evaluation Officer

More #AfDBJobs vacancies: https://bit.ly/AfDBJobs

Stay informed and engaged

Don't miss future insights and stories that matter from the African Development Bank. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates directly to your LinkedIn inbox.

Connect with us on social media

Join our growing online community. Follow us on social media for daily news, a look behind-the-scenes, and more.

X | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | Vimeo | YouTube