Chinelo Anohu

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

"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."

"But we want to look at it more than just an athlete or a singer. We are looking to creating the framework so that we monetise the IP. Others are currently making money from our talent."

"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."

"We are helping structure this, and helping channel investments towards this. The same applies to the creatives, and making sure that we are monetising our creations."

"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."

"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."

"This is something we incredibly proud of and when we talk about women in business, we’re helping make it a reality. We’re helping create scale and impact. This year, mining especially what are termed green minerals. We have many technology projects and also projects around logistics."

"The Lagos to Abidjan corridor highway project has been well documented and it’s fully subscribed – the road, the rail connection. So, now we are working on the next step which is logistics, storage, warehousing along this corridor. That’s what the boardrooms will be focusing on during the AIF. Making transactions happen and getting real investor interest in critical projects that will help drive transformation and development."

"We are constantly putting things on the table that weren’t there before and constantly refusing to take no for an answer when it comes to Africa."

"And I suppose this is a continuation of a culture that goes back to my days at Pencon. There was a lot of talk on pension reform and many people were saying that it wasn’t possible. It took a few senior people and a very willing President Obasanjo to back us and we pushed through the pension reform and did it in such a way that it remains sustainable"

"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."

"That brings me to your direct question about the perception of the Americans in business. You have to deal with people telling you what they think is good for you because you’re not able to speak for yourself."

"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 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."

"With the AIF, which is a flagship initiative of the African Development Bank along with seven other founding partners, we are preparing projects for bankability and helping projects progress through the different steps, the next one being raising capital and once that is done also working to unlock the bottlenecks that can cause some deals to not reach closure."

"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."

"At the Africa Investment Forum, we distil the talk into projects."

"One of the biggest challenges is project preparation. You can always find capital and it is available both domestically and globally."

"On the domestic front, can I just say that the driver behind the pension reform we conducted was to ignite that domestic resource mobilisation. And across the continent, we haven’t even started to scratch the surface on that front. Just look at contributions as a percentage of GDP and it’s still small comparatively speaking. So there is capital."

"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 also think we need to be more ambitious. You see projects and they are too timid, too small. International investors and financiers want scale. So we also help see the bigger picture and help ensure that these projects are appealing and will meet the requirements and benchmarks that we know investors will request."

"We are uniquely placed to overcome all of these different items. We work with every government on the continent. So we can help smooth out issues around policy through discussions and sensitisation and through reforms. We also have proprietary data through the African Development Bank."

"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."

"One should understand that when the presidents come to the AIF they don’t come to AIF as the president of such and such a country, they come to AIF as CEOs of their countries."

"They sit in the room with investors, they sit in the room with project sponsors and they hear first-hand how their intentions, their concerns, how policies affect the investments. And investors also get a better understanding of policy. It helps with decision making and we have seen leaders go back to work on policy to help drive greater investments and get deals over the line. That is the unique proposition of the AIF."

"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."

"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."

"Africa is getting tired of receiving aid, adding that it would be more beneficial for the continent to take charge of its future."

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

"There’s been a lot of talk, and a lot of research but now it’s time for action. And how do you have this action translate properly on the continent? By very quickly, clearly, concisely, looking at the transactions themselves."

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

"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."

"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."

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

"So, rather than looking to be given vaccines developed in those labs outside Africa by people, some of whom are of African descent who did not have infrastructure to do it on the continent, we should be looking at setting up these vaccine plants on the continent."

"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."

"Africa is increasingly getting tired of asking for aid when in all honesty we can trade. And that is what we’re now looking to provide at the Africa Investment Forum, a flagship initiative of the African Development Bank, where both domestic and international investors who are looking to invest for profit, while fulfilling a need, are mobilised to finance projects."

"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."

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

"There is abundance of capital and projects in Africa."

"Project preparation and due diligence is very important."

"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."

"We’re still learning, and we will continue to learn because COVID-19 is so devastating and so impactful that we don’t think the learning period is over. The pandemic drove home to the continent the level of dependency on everything."