US-Africa Municipal and Sub-Sovereign Investors Roundtable: Deploying Capital Together

During the United Nations General Assembly, UCLG Africa, the umbrella organization representing the voice of the 17,000 subnational and local governments on the African continent, held a US-Africa Municipal and Sub-Sovereign Investors Roundtable in New York City on 25 September 2024, as a follow up to the US-Africa Municipal and Sub-sovereign Investments Forum held in September 2023 in the same city. The Roundtable organized with the support of the Africa Adaptation Initiative (AAI) brought together key decision makers representing elected officials from national and sub-sovereign governments, development and commercial banks, cooperation agencies and investors. 

The opening session moderated by Mr. Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General of UCLG Africa, was marked by the presence of Hon. Eric Adams, the Mayor of New York City.

The Secretary General of UCLG Africa welcomed the participants and thanked the team behind the preparation of the Roundtable namely by Dr. Zienzi Dillon, Dr. Francois Yatta and the team of the New York Mayor office. He then introduced the guest of honor of the Roundtable, Hon Eric Adams, the Mayor of New York City. 

In his opening speech, Hon. Eric Adams highlighted that many large cities in the USA have African American Mayors in their leadership. This has created a favorable momentum to strengthen the economic, social and cultural linkages between African cities and sub-sovereign governments and their counterparts in the USA. The Mayor emphasized that now is the time to redefine the direction of Africa with self-determination as Africa is the continent of tomorrow. The Mayor refuted the misconception that investing in Africa is risky, pointing out that this narrative has long been perpetuated, despite the continent’s abundant natural resources making it an attractive investment opportunity. He encouraged investors to explore the continent’s potential. He called for the improvement of cultural and intellectual exchanges, encouraging the African American youth and entrepreneurs to visit Africa, fostering a deeper understanding and connection with the continent. In concluding, Mayor Adams reaffirmed his commitment to making New York City a hub for place-based investment in Africa, taking advantage of the important African Diaspora living in New York City. He confirmed his resolve to convince the business community in New York and in the USA in general that “Africa is open for business,” as amply demonstrated by the quality participation witnessed during the US-Africa Municipal and Sub-sovereign Investors Forum last year and at the US-Africa Municipal and Sub- sovereign Investors Roundtable. 

The opening session was concluded with key remarks from the following speakers; Mrs Kenayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Afrexim Bank; Senator James Sanders, Chair, Banks Committee, New York State; Cllr Samkelo Janda, the Executive Mayor of Mbashe Local Municipality, South Africa; and Dr Chii Akporji, Chairperson of Shelter Afrique Development Bank. The speakers highlighted their shared belief that effective collective deployment of capital for local economic development in Africa will lead to inclusive, resilient and sustainable economic growth on the continent.  

On a more concrete note, the Executive Mayor of Mbashe in South Africa, a rural municipality in the Province and home of legends, such as former South African Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, presented investment expectations identified in his Municipality, thus illustrating the business opportunities potential offered by African resource rich yet globally poor municipalities including rural municipalities, because of lack of long term development policies and strategies, low skills in projects development, insufficient knowledge on the way to attract investors and meet the requirements of the capital market. Hence the importance of strengthening local governance and capacity building of officials and senior staff of cities and sub-sovereign governments on these matters. There was a consensus that creating a better narrative in the US about investment opportunities in Africa was vital. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is manmade, and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.” 

The second session focused on the Africa Territorial Investment Agency (ATIA), the special purpose vehicle initiated by UCLG Africa with the aim to deploying capital in African cities and sub- sovereign governments, to enhance their capacity to create wealth and decent jobs, and participate in the structural transformation of Africa. This session was moderated by Dr. Zienzi Dillon, Chair of the ATIA Steering Committee. She first acknowledged the instrumental role of UCLG Africa which conceived and pursued tirelessly the idea of establishing ATIA. She also commended the sponsorship provided by the UN Deputy Secretary General, that was instrumental to the financing and implementation of the ATIA risk assessment just completed with the support of UNCDF, the UN Investment Agency. She thanked the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) for opening its doors to host ATIA. A MoU was signed to that effect between DBSA and UCLG Africa in December 2023 during the COP28 meetings in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

An update on the ATIA initiative was presented by Mr. Mohan Vivekanandan, Group Executive Coverage, DBSA, who pointed to Africa’s rapid urbanization, the significant investment required in urban infrastructure and the need for development finance specifically project development risk capital. He explored strategic ways to collaborate and deploy capital to cities especially intermediary and rural municipalities. After the presentation of the state of play in ATIA initiative, Development Financial Institutions including Agencies and Commercial Banks were given the opportunity to share their views, appetite/commitments to collaborate in capital deployment in Africa, including through ATIA. The discussion was organized around presentations by David Jackson, Director, Local Development Finance, UNCDF; Thierno-Habib Hann, Managing Director, Shelter Afrique Development Bank; Farida Abdalla, Chairperson, Mombasa County Public Service Record Board; Mohamed Kalif, Director, Eastern and Southern African Trade Advisers Limited (ESATAL) and Senior Advisor to Trade and Development Bank Group; Beth Roberts, Vice-President of the Office of Foreign Policy, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation; Luca Del Conte, Head of Equity & Investor Sales, Corporate and Investment Banking, Standard Bank; AMB Seyni Nafo, Coordinator, Africa Adaptation Initiative Technical Support Unit (AAI/TSU) and Thobeka Tubela, Senior Director, Business Development, Rand Merchant Bank. 

Ufo Eric-Atuanya, Senior Vice President, US EXIM Bank and Tammy Maxwell, Acting Senior Vice President, Office of Small Business, responded by sharing opportunities and support available to US Businesses investing in Africa. 

Participants to the session agreed to identify at least two to three projects that shall be brought to a bankability level and be presented during the Forum on economic development of Kisumu County and Lake Hub Region, Kenya, to be held in the framework of the conference of Africa sub-sovereign governments network (AfSNet) organized by Afreximbank in collaboration with UCLG Africa and the Kisumu County Government on November 25-28, 2024 in Kisumu, Kenya. The Kisumu economic Forum is the agreed milestone to test the common will of participants in the Roundtable to move concretely from commitments in conferences to action on the ground. All participants were invited to avail themselves for this important meeting point. 

The following take away and next steps arising from the second session of the Roundtable, were presented by Dr. Francois Yatta, Director, Operations and Technical Assistance, UCLG Africa: 

  1. Organize bilateral exchanges to confirm level of support for the Africa Territorial Investment Agency (ATIA)  
  2. Formalize the commitments to support ATIA and other propositions from the institutions present at this Roundtable. 
  3. Work on the development of a pilot pipeline of projects with a priority on Kisumu County, Kenya (an intermediary city) and Mbashe Local Municipality South Africa (a rural municipality) to be presented during the Forum on Economic Development of Kisumu County in November 2024 in Kisumu, Kenya. 
  4. Finalize the institutional and technical set up of ATIA no later than first quarter of the year 2025. 

The Roundtable was officially closed with strategic remarks by Ms. Boitumelo Mosako, the Chief Executive Officer, Development Bank of Southern Africa. Ms. Mosako acknowledged the participants for their commitment to engaging in place-based investment strategies in Africa, that signal a new era of partnership – one that puts people and places at the center of development. She emphasized that ATIA promises to accelerate the pace of African infrastructure development, the creation of sustainable living environments and local economic resilience. The roundtable marks a significant step toward fostering collaboration and enhancing investment in Africa, with a focus on creating multiple fiscal centers to accelerate development across the continent. She ended her remarks by citing in words of John Schaar that “the future is not some place we are going but one we are creating”. 

For further information please contact: Gaelle Yomi :   Tel: + 212 610 56 71 45 E-mail: gyomi@uclga.org