American firms have pledged billions of US dollars to projects across Africa in the ongoing US-Africa Leaders Summit. Visa plans to spend US$1 billion (R17 billion) across all 54 African countries, expanding its footprint and technology platforms in the next five years. Some of the money will go towards local strategic partnerships with governments, local financial institutions, mobile operators, FinTech, and merchants.
Announcing the investment during the summit on Wednesday, the CEO of Visa Inc, Alfred Kelly Jr., said that while there are more than 100 million people in Africa with Visa cards and 2 million merchants accepting them, the financial giant believes that there is still so much more to do in the continent.
“Today, Visa is announcing that we are going to make a $1 billion investment in Africa over the next five years. That investment will go towards scaling our operations across the continent; it will go towards driving innovation in technology,” he said, adding that Africa will be critical to Visa’s growth in the next 50 years.
Prosper Africa, a US government initiative aimed at increasing trade and investment between the US and African countries, committed to investing $170 million – pending funding availability. This money will be invested alongside US and African companies and investors as the organisation plans to mobilise an additional $1 billion investment from US firms. It also announced five new partnerships with African asset fund managers under a new Catalytic Investment Facility.
It will work with Fund for Africa’s Future, Altree Capital, Endeavor South Africa, Okavango Capital, and ThirdWay Partners to invest in small businesses and entrepreneurs that work in the space of climate change and gender inequality, among other things. Prosper Africa plans to mobilise more than $200 million in private capital for that initiative.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) committed to investing “multiple million dollars” to make basketball and the NBA more accessible in the continent. This includes the expansion of the NBA Africa’s multiyear agreement with ESPN Africa to air games in Africa and the launch of Africa’s first NBA store in Sandton City in October. The NBA has also announced plans to launch its fourth African office in Cairo, Egypt, in early 2023.
Standard Bank and GE Healthcare announced that they will work together to finance up to $80 million of GE equipment to Standard Bank customers across the continent over the next five years, with a focus on South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Mozambique, and Angola.
Other US companies that announced investment commitments include the ABD Group, which is establishing new data centres across the continent, investing $500 million in the process. mPharma is investing $43 million in Nigeria. US-based startup KoBold Metals and its partners will invest $150 million to support a copper mine in Zambia. Power Africa, in partnership with Prosper Africa, launched a new initiative called the US-Africa Clean Tech Energy Network, which will invest $350 million in the next five years in project-ready technologies that can increase access to reliable electricity.
US Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, said US investors are more interested in Africa, especially after the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) last year. And because of this, relations between Africa and the US will be shaped more by commercial ties than ever before.
“I hear continuously, and increasingly, from US businesses, entrepreneurs and investors, that they are increasingly interested in investing in the African continent. I hear it regularly,” she said.-fin24
