Chinelo Anohu-Amazu Quotes

The issue we have found are the project themselves, the way they’re structured and the way they are prepared. We have noticed that you can have some fantastic projects but they are structure is wrong and they don’t have the basic corporate governance structures that make them investible from an investor’s perspective.

I had to overcome several obstacles in my life journey to become the Director General and CEO of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) managing over N2 trillion in assets.

Before I talk about deals, I would like to talk about something that is paramount to me: women as investment champions. This is something I am most proud of, the launch of the Women as Investment Champions.

It’s a start, we’ll need a lot more, but this is something that is very exciting to us at the Africa Investment Forum, because it clearly charts a path where we can have a collaborative effort and ensure that deals on the continent have fruition.

I explained to African Business why in the current crisis, originating transactions is more important than ever.

There is abundance of capital and projects in Africa.

Our call now to the rest of the world is to join us, not as aid givers, but as investment partners so that we can quite clearly chart the course for the future.

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.

They say, this is what you need because you have not articulated your own needs in a manner that you can present it so that it will be addressed. The continent also has not understood its part in solving its own problems, nobody will do it for you. You’re going to have to rise and do it yourself.

So we’re involved throughout the value chain, all year round, providing the tools and instruments and know-how to make a deal bankable and helping it see the light of day. Of course, each deal is different and our role will change depending on the needs.

Project preparation and due diligence is very important.

I think there needs to be a paradigm shift from the way we look at collaboration.

The Africa Investment Forum has been supporting the African Continental Free Trade Area through the Forum’s parent institution, the African Development Bank.

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

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.