This year’s Africa Finance and Investment Forum (AFIF), which will focus on ‘Access to Finance and Entrepreneurship’, will be held for the first time on African soil in Cape Town, South Africa on November 24-26.
The event will be organised by non-profit international association EMRC in collaboration with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and will bring together stakeholders from different regions with a common drive to fulfil Sub-Saharan Africa’s potential.
Around 300 policymakers, financiers, bankers and private sector entrepreneurs are expected to attend the event to discuss and find practical business solutions.
“In line with the the European Union’s Agenda for Change, in the coming years the bank will have a renewed focus on private sector development, recognised as a key driver of sustainable growth,” said Patrick Walsh, EIB’s director of the ACP Lending Department.
The confirmed keynote speaker is Lord Boateng, formerly chief secretary of the UK and Britain’s high commissioner to South Africa (2005-2009).
“The AFIF 2015 conference provides an exciting opportunity for policy makers, academics, and practitioners, to come together to explore best practice and chart the way forward, in this critical year in which sustainable development takes centre stage. I look forward to joining in the discussions,” he said.
The event targets three key groups: entrepreneurs, financial institutions and banks.
“AFIF is addressed to all those from north and south that never stopped believing in the potential of Africa and truly see it as a continent of countless opportunities, of challenges, of fearless entrepreneurs where many good things can happen,” said Ines Bastos, EMRC senior project manager.
