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| Business leaders resolve to market Africa | |
19 Sep 2006
Business leaders from across the continent underlined their commitment yesterday to promote Africa’s economic profile and help raise awareness of the investment opportunities that the continent presents. They were speaking at the annual NEPAD Bending the Arc summit, taking place at UN headquarters in New York on the eve of the General Assembly.Increasing numbers of countries are demonstrating growth a blistering pace. Average economic growth has increased from 3% to 5% per annum in the last two years. But still Africa remains on the periphery of the radar screens for most investors. Globally foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in 2006 will reach $1.2 trillion, the first time since 2000 that global FDI will have surpassed the $1 trillion mark. But Africa will receive only 2 to 3% of that investment. Representatives of multinational companies participating in the summit, including Coca-Cola, Shell, Nestle and Telkom, concluded that the negative international media image of the continent was having an impact on investor perceptions about Africa, and resolved to commit resources to address this. Speaking to the forum, Papi Molotsane, CEO of Telkom South Africa, the dual-listed telecommunications company, said: "In the last five years we have made much progress, economically and politically. But we cannot rest on our laurels. We must do more to promote our continent as an attractive investment destination. The FIFA World Cup in 2010 represents a unique opportunity to market our continent, our goods, our services and our destinations to a global audience of more than 4 billion people. We must not only harness this attention but also convert it into investment. It is time to promote a vibrant economic image of our continent. Let’s seize this opportunity to present a new face to the world, a face that truly represents our beautiful and enterprising continent. Our development will come from our own investment, and we must invest in marketing our continent properly." Africa has a strong and vibrant private sector, but this is underreported in the western media, where images of famine and conflict are regularly employed to characterise the continent. "Every unreported success story costs us jobs and impedes our development, as investors continue to focus their efforts and funds on more high profile investment destinations," Dr Bamanga Tukur, Chairman of the NEPAD Business Group, stated. "The African private sector now stands ready to shout about our successes. Our message is clear; Africa is open for business." Notes to Editors Bending the Arc is a project of the African Union’s New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) for engaging business in development and accelerating Africa's progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The project benefits from the support of the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships (UNFIP), the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser for Africa (UNOSAA) and the African Business Roundtable (ABR). Bending the Arc aims to share best practice and broker partnerships to help fast track the attainment of the MDGs in Africa. www.bendingthearc.com The 2006 annual Bending the Arc summit took place at the United Nations headquarters yesterday in New York. Professor Mucavele, CEO of NEPAD, Ambassador Legwaila, United Nations Undersecretary General, Amir Dossal, Executive Director of the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships, and Dr Bamanga Tukur, Chairman of the NEPAD Business Group, chaired the summit. |
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