African Investment Forum Roots For Building ICT Infrastructure

The Africa Investment Forum ran from 2nd to 4th November in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and focused on building Africa’s ICT infrastructure.

According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), the sponsor of the forum, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the digital transformation known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), which was already underway across the globe.

“As 4IR advances, Africa cannot afford to be left behind. ICT technologies can overcome gaps in several key sectors including agribusiness, communications, and financial growth; unlocking better jobs, more effective tracking logistics for supply chains, and even improved healthcare outcomes”, reads the AfDB statement in part.

AfDB further states that the African continent presents an immense opportunity across a range of areas; including mobile services, broadband infrastructure, and data storage.

The forum’s primary objective is to capture Africa’s young and fast-growing population, which has come of age in the digital era.
AfDB observes that the youth are hungry for tools and technologies to meet their strong creative and entrepreneurial needs. And the absence of legacy infrastructure in many countries offers an opening to adopt the latest standards and innovations.

“Strong coordination between business, governments, and other actors such as civil society and regional agencies will be needed”, adds the AfDB source.

Days ahead of the opening of its Market Days 2022 event, the Africa Investment Forum is well placed to play an integral role in channeling investment into information and communication infrastructure.

Africa Investment Forum founding institutions, the African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank, supported the West Indian Ocean Cable Company(link is external) to deliver high-capacity connectivity of over 550 locations in 30 African countries with key financial and commercial centers around the world.

Demand for mobile services, particularly smartphones is forecast to continue growing rapidly across Africa. The GSMA, an association of the world’s largest number of mobile operators, projects that about 600 million Africans will subscribe to mobile services by 2025, up from 456 million in 2018.

Mobile broadband will spur demand not only for services in fintech and telehealth but creating a knock-on effect.

AfDB adds that there is also surging demand for so-called backbone ICT infrastructure, which comprises many different sorts of equipment.

“This includes root servers, fiber broadband lines, networking switches, routers, and cellular towers, to name a few. Building out of all of these elements represent opportunities for investors to meet rampant demand but also significant job creation potential in construction, installation, and services”, further states the AfDB source.

The IFC and Google report, eConomy Africa 2020, projects an African Internet economy that could reach $180 billion by 2025, accounting for 5.2 percent of the continent’s GDP. By 2050, the potential contribution could reach $712 billion, or 8.5 percent of the continent’s GDP.

The theme of the 2022 Market Days is: “Building economic resilience through sustainable investments—transactions involving smart and resilient infrastructure are likely to enjoy the spotlight”.

Since its inception in 2018, the Africa Investment Forum platform has mobilized investment interests of over $100 billion.

The platform is an initiative of the African Development Bank and seven other development institutions: Africa 50; the Africa Finance Corporation; the African Export-Import Bank; the Development Bank of Southern Africa; the Trade and Development Bank; the European Investment Bank; and the Islamic Development Bank.

The Market Days 2022 forum officially began at 9:00 am on 2 November 2022 with statements from Republic of Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, and African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina.

The opening ceremony was followed by a plenary session. The plenary featured a panel of global investors.