Two Kenyans appointed To African Green Infrastructure Investment Bank’s Advisory Board

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Sundeep Raichura, Zamara Group CEO have been appointed as Advisory Board members to the African Green Infrastructure Investment Bank (AfGIIB).

The announcement was made during the G-7 African Investor Summit held on the sidelines of the just-completed G7 Summit in Cornwall.

The African Green Infrastructure Investment Bank (AfGIIB) initiative is an African Union-convened, African institutional investor-led, global finance initiative, to catalyze private capital for Africa’s green transition, in the run-up to COP27 in Africa and beyond.

Raila Odinga is the African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development and Sundeep Raichura is the Chairman of the Kenya Pensions Fund Investment Consortium (KEPFIC). The Advisory Board is tasked with the mandate to champion and create a specialist green infrastructure investment platform to support the continent’s green transitions, create jobs, increase the continent’s share of the industrial green global economy whilst at the same time delivering globally competitive risk-adjusted returns for its investors.

Welcoming the establishment of AfGIIB, Hon Raila Odinga reaffirmed his support for initiatives of this type that catalyze more investments into infrastructure in Africa and more so support and accelerate Africa’s transition to a greener and more resilient economy.

Speaking at the summit, Sundeep Raichura said “As we build back better and focus on long term recovery post-Covid-19, sustainability in investments is going to be critical and institutional investors such as pension funds can play a pivotal role in creating a more sustainable economy by having a focus on the green agenda in their investment decisions”.

“The emerging need to reassess investment allocation by Kenyan pension funds presents an opportunity to revisit nature-based and sustainable solutions for more resilient physical infrastructure to mitigate climate change and physical risks,” added Raichura.

The African Green Infrastructure Investment bank (AfGIIB) Advisory Board will also serve as an influential green investment mobilization avenue for the continent, even as the continent prepares to host the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in 2022.