Senzeni Zokwana, minister of agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of South Africa will deliver the keynote address and lead the way at Africa’s largest agri investment event from 28-30 November in Cape Town, South Africa
The African Agri Investment Indaba is the largest investment platform for agri business and covers the entire value chain of agriculture with an international high level conference, an exhibition area and the “Investment Discovery Sessions”. These sessions will present pre-selected African agri projects from more than 12 countries and a combined value of US$2.6mn to African and international investors.
Deal-making and the long term growth of African agriculture are the priorities of the event, an international gathering where business and government talk the same language and come together at one table.
Speakers discuss real market opportunities across the various African regions, African agriculture as a growing private equity investment vehicle and how to create globally competitive industries in emerging markets across Africa.
“We are honoured to have minister Zokwana deliver the keynote address to this international audience,” stated Ben Leyka, executive director of the African Agri Council, a network of agri executives and organiser of the event.
“It demonstrates that agriculture and agri-business are on top of the agenda for African governments – we expect 5+ ministers, 50+ senior government representatives, 150+ investors and 350+ international agribusiness leaders”.
According to the latest “Lions on the move II” report by Mc Kinsey, Africa could nearly double its manufacturing output (including agri processing) to US$930bn in 2025 from US$500bn today, provided countries take decisive action to create an improved environment for manufacturers. Three-quarters of that potential could come from Africa-based companies meeting domestic demand; today, Africa imports one-third of the food, beverages, and other similar processed goods it consumes. The other one-quarter could come from more exports. The rewards of accelerated industrialization will include a step change in productivity and the creation of up to 14mn stable jobs over the next decade.
While the potential that Africa offers is undoubted, the question remains: will it be achieved? Businesses and governments will need to work harder to capture the opportunity and come together in open forums such as the African Agriculture Indaba.
The African Agri Investment Indaba (AAII) 2016, taking place from the 28 – 30 November 2016 at the CTICC in Cape Town, is the meeting place for senior government officials, executives and entrepreneurs across the agri value chain. With more than US$1bn worth of projects already in our database and a growing investor participation competing for the best projects to grow their agri portfolio, AAII 2016 is the ideal deal-making forum. More can be found here: www.agri-indaba.com.
