Chinelo Anohu-Amazu Quotes

That’s what we’re doing now with the Africa Investment Forum. Again, building a platform that is multi-transactional, multi-disciplinary and very deal-oriented. We are trying to get away from the endless talk about what needs to be done in Africa to actually doing stuff and we’re doing it one transaction at a time. We distil the talk into projects. We are working with the creative industry, for example, and doing a lot of work and seeing how we can channel funds to where it is needed, not just where people think it is needed.

Around sports you have the merchandising, you have the whole ecosystem, the infrastructure and for those watching these sports, the hotels, the shops, the licensing. This is why people are paying billions for sports franchises.

So through the AIF platform we’re helping people join us as partners and shifting the discussion to one of investments. And I see that this approach does resonate in the American market and US investors.

First let me say that risks do exist. It would be naive and totally idealistic for anyone to say that political risk doesn’t exist. But it exists everywhere. The point is that it’s not going to go away. What we need are the tools to manage it so that it doesn’t become a problem. What we do on the AIF side is to ensure that we unlock these bottlenecks and sometimes it’s a political bottleneck, sometimes it’s a policy bottleneck. Sometimes it’s a data or business intelligence bottleneck because you can’t invest if you don’t understand your terrain, if you don’t have reliable numbers.

Therein lies a moral obligation to be our brother’s keeper, but whether we are doing that or not is playing out in this matter of vaccine equity. So, quite frankly, from this side in Africa, I’m not certain that it will happen. So, what you’re seeing now on the continent is a realisation that you have an option not to wait to be given, but to take your future into your own hands.

There is abundance of capital and projects in Africa.

A couple of years ago, it was Ebola ravaging the continent. Now it is COVID-19. There may be something else in the future. How do we then position Africa to very clearly respond to their own needs without a dependence on aid?

The same principles that we discussed earlier still need to be applied to these sectors. Thinking about scale, structuring projects properly, creating awareness around the impact and upside.

Talent is not the issue on the continent. We have it in abundance. We are naturally blessed in sports and in the creatives.

It is always incumbent on the project sponsors and the advisors to structure the deals in a manner that you accompany the interests of the country you operate in. That’s what differentiates success and frustration.

While it would be good for Africa to be given vaccines, the continent needs more of investments to become self-reliant.

We were very gratified to hear about the launch of the global gateway and the $300 billion initially earmarked for it.

I'm more reform oriented. I like to start things that were not in existence. I get bored going to things that have already been said. I'm constantly looking for innovation.

We are helping to channel monies to women-led and businesses with a gender lens. We have a dozen deals on our platform starting from $2m – a sheer butter business – to a multi-billion refinery business. Their stories are amazing when you look at the obstacles they’ve had to overcome, the challenges and sheer tenacity and not just the will but also the mental acumen to pursue the deals to where they are now.

The homemaker aspect of a woman’s life teaches me one thing and that’s to joggle and manage different things at the same time.