Prosper Africa published a document outlining the commitments in investment that were made during the US – Africa Leaders Summit. The Deal Room was hosted by Prosper Africa and brought together US and African governments and US and African private sector players in an attempt to broker deals in the form of commitments in 5 main areas:
- Mobilizing regional trade and investment
- Climate and Energy
- Digital Transformation
- Access to Healthcare
- Agriculture
I have outlined the deals here that are specific to East Africa as per Prosper Africa’s document.
- In support of Prosper Africa, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is partnering with TradeMark East Africa to invest in trade-enabling infrastructure and expanded access to trade finance in East Africa through an investment facility, Trade Catalyst Africa (TCA). With $25 million from the U.S. Government, the facility will leverage at least $90 million of private capital for co-investment. The fund has the potential to expand continent-wide in support of a key priority of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
- The Equity Bank Group, lead investor in the transformative “Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan,” is delivering new commitments through an investment of $7 billion into a dedicated fund. The resilience plan is a private sector stimulus package agreed upon by the UN, African Union, USAID, East African Community, IFC/World Bank, and other international stakeholders. This investment will facilitate commitments to double crop yields, formalize artisanal miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo, finance key manufacturing hubs in key sectors of agriculture value addition/extractives, finance five million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and support the deployment of 500 affordable health clinics.
- DFC is committing a $5 million loan portfolio guarantee to Equity Banque Commerciale du Congo SA to support micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a focus on agriculture and renewable energy investments, in coordination with USAID and co-guarantor Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
- DFC is committing a $15 million equity investment in the Norrsken22 Africa Fund, a women-led fund investing in high-impact technology companies across Africa. The fund will support entrepreneurship and technological advancements in finance, medicine, and education, with a particular focus on Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa.
- The U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) and Standard Bank are deepening their partnership in support of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across Africa to launch a newly expanded catalytic grant funding program in Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and other future markets. It is anticipated that the expanded program will invest an additional $5 million over the next five years with each party contributing equally to this new initiative. USADF and Standard Bank have collectively taken this step due to the early success of a joint program in Kenya that addresses MSMEs’ need to access capital but are unable to meet the threshold required by commercial lenders.
- Dow, a U.S. material sciences company, is scaling their partnership with Kenyan recycling company, Mr. Green, to build a circular economy with waste management at its core by integrating and skilling informal waste collectors, leveraging technology to manage and streamline operations in emerging markets, and ensuring fairly-sourced recycled materials are built into the economic value chain for manufacturing of high quality products for local and international markets. Through Dow’s expanded engagement with Mr. Green, this partnership seeks to divert 90 kilotons of plastic waste from illegal dumpsites and landfills. The partnership will add flexible plastics as an additional recyclables category, which will create 200 jobs and empower 5,000 waste pickers through regular and reliable employment over the next four years.
- Energy tech innovator, Lifezone, is filing its merger agreement with GoGreen Investments for approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The merger is the first of multiple phases of a targeted $1 billion investment into Tanzania’s Kabanga Nickel project – a mine-to-metal operation producing Class 1 nickel, cobalt, and copper refined metals. Based on test studies, the technology has the potential to be a more cost-efficient alternative to conventional smelting with a significantly lower environmental impact. Lifezone will leverage its patented hydromet technology to build and operate a planned nickel refinery hub in Tanzania. Kabanga is one of the largest and highest quality undeveloped nickel sulfide deposits globally. This investment has the potential to promote economic development for the region and bolster exports of valuable metals from Tanzania.
- MyHydro, a partnership of international power developer Symbion Power and San Francisco-based Natel Energy, is investing $1 billion over the next 10 years to install fish-safe, low-head hydropower-based distributed systems with associated mini-grids at low cost across the African continent. MyHydro executed a contract to acquire four turbines from Natel Energy for the first of 33 sites in DRC, as part of the initial investment on the Lubi River in the Kasai Province. Symbion Power will also build and operate a $97 million 35 MW geothermal power plant in the Menengai Volcanic Crater in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, under a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement signed with Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) and a Steam Supply Agreement signed with the Geothermal Development Company (GDC).
- YAATRA Ventures is leading the private sector investor group and, together with the Government of Uganda and East African investment partners, will achieve a Final Investment Decision for a combined $1.5 billion total equity investment in early 2023 for the East Africa Energy Security and Transition Project. The project will support a regional energy facility producing finished fuels and associated storage, transportation, and domestic market distribution infrastructure. The project will support regional industries including transportation, agriculture, and manufacturing and create approximately 40,000 direct and indirect jobs during its lifetime.
- USTDA is providing a feasibility study grant to the provincial government of Equateur in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to develop a comprehensive and reliable clean energy solution for the city of Mbandaka. The city is home to over two million residents who lack connectivity to the national power grid. The study will assess the economic and technical viability of utility-scale infrastructure to generate and store solar energy, and of building the DRC’s first electric tuk-tuk vehicle charging station.
- Ubuntu Towers, an independent developer and operator of passive telecommunications infrastructure in Uganda, is helping to accelerate Africa’s ICT transformation. Through advisory services from Prosper Africa, Ubuntu Towers gained the attention of a major bank on the continent. This bank is affording the company a $35 million long-term commercial loan, providing the capital needed to expand ICT infrastructure in East Africa. ICT is a transformative sector with the potential to reduce poverty, improve access to health and education services, and create new sources of income and employment.
- Kenya-based agribusiness Hello Tractor is partnering with U.S. tractor manufacturer John Deere to scale its pay-as-you-go program – financing tractors for more than 623,000 small farmers who use the platform on over 1.7million acres of land. This new $5 million investment is spurring more modernized agriculture practices across the continent. Using tractors, land can be farmed more efficiently and improve the quantity and quality of crops, as farm activities can be completed in a more optimal time frame to raise yields.
- MeTL Group is announcing a $100 million anchor commitment towards an African food security fund that will transform agricultural production and capacity in order to tackle chronic hunger, which affects more than 20% of Africa. With interests spanning various industries including agriculture, manufacturing, trading, energy, financial services, and transportation and logistics, MeTL Group is one of East Africa’s largest homegrown companies. MeTL has annual revenues north of $2 billion, employs over 35,000 across the continent and enjoys a regional presence in seven countries. Africa faces severe food insecurity despite being home to a majority of the world’s uncultivated, arable land. MeTL has a goal to spur other investors to participate in the fund’s billion-dollar target.
- USAID is launching the five-year, $38.9 million Kilimo Tija program in Tanzania, which will sustainably increase economic opportunities in horticulture market systems, especially for young people. The program is expected to leverage more than $50 million in private investment and will focus on strengthening horticulture market systems to increase enterprise and employment opportunities; increasing access to commercially provided, climate smart, and productivity-enhancing agricultural technologies; and strengthening the enabling environment for market systems.