North West Africa Investor Trips

The team organised and hosted investor events in Senegal and Morocco during 2018 and 2019 to showcase vibrant investment opportunities and to bring key executives in the investment community together.  Meetings were attended by a broad range of local companies, financial insitutions and financial service providers plus local and international investors seeking exposure to these strong economies.

***NOTE that the 2020 Investor Trip series has been postponed until 2021 due to the Covid-19 situation

The African Investments team returned to Morocco and Senegal in March 2019.

In Senegal, APIX introduced delegates to local investment environment noting the 2018 GDP growth forecast of around 7%, low inflation (2%), low sovereign risk (B+ Stable, S&P) and inherent currency stability due to the Franc CFA being pegged to the euro. The government continues to reform the the business environment to increase competitiveness which includes structural and sectorial reforms, e-services to expedite processes, special economic zones and an aggressive infrastructure vision to 2025. Several major business opportunities were presented across agriculture including export horticulture, mining, energy and infrastructure development.

An expert panel provided insights into risk mitigation including FONSIS (Senegal’s Sovereign Wealth Fund) and the IFC who discussed successful local investments, WASH-FIN/USAID on services offered to assist local companies to build sustainable business models, MIGA-World Bank on political risk insurance and protection against payment default and from local investment bankers who shared transaction successes.

Investment opportunities from investment bankers and local businesses spanned energy, WASH, agribusiness and fintech and included co-investment opportunities with FONSIS and with the pioneering African private development finance institution, GroFin.

Investors, local companies, entrepreneurs, government officials and agencies, financial institutions and advisory groups converged in Casablanca in March 2018 for the African Investments Morocco Investor Meeting.

Investment in Morocco is supported by an attractive legal and regulatory framework, various tax incentives, uncapped repatriation of funds, political stability, expanding infrastructure, an educated workforce and a strong, expanding GDP.

Energy Transition is a national government priority and investment in renewable energy was a key focus of this year’s Investor Trip with presentations from key government agencies.  The government has committed to a renewable energy target of 42% of Morocco’s energy mix by 2020, representing an additional installed capacity 6 GW (2GW Solar, 2GW Wind Turbine and 2GW Hydroelectric power). The target for 2030 is 52% which will require investment of ~USD 40bn for more than 10 GW of new capacity.