The Common stumbling blocks to investment

One of the major concerns is the lack of continuity and consistency in government policy. An example is a ministerial reshuffle, which is a source of potential instability and provides a significant challenge in the business environment. As a result, investors expect turbulence and have reduced trust in contracts. They are unsure whether the contracts, often linked to political leaders in power, may be cancelled at any time. Participants in the session highlighted other areas which need improvement in order to promote investment in Africa. These include constrained access to finance, difficulties related to long-term financing, volatile currency and foreign exchange reserves (losses of up to 20% when converting dollar revenue), bureaucracy, training of labour, and access to electricity.

Kichuguu Platform as Grassroot Partner

"Kichuguu with multi location local offices in Africa serve as perfect grassroots partners, Grassroot partners are ablest at identifying the problems on the ground and the solutions that could help implement a sustainable solution. ... A grassroots organization has the advantage of knowing the people, culture, and political environment to take the innovation and better implement it on the ground."- added Kichuguu CFO Amy Zeng.

Focusing on Private Sector

"Private investments by the corporate sector are critical to higher growth rates and economic development. More investment creates a multiplier effect in the economy by generating both direct and indirect employment, boosting consumption and fostering further development. 

Ensuring that manufacturing firms have access to cost-effective and efficient services inputs will have a decisive effect on the productivity and global competitiveness of manufacturers.

To achieve this, African countries must work towards developing domestic services by improving regulatory frameworks and increasing private owned enteprises. This will mobilise the domestic and foreign resources (especially in capital-intensive services such as finance and insurance) to facilitate the provision of these services."

Including public-private partnerships (PPPs)

Kichuguu CEO Mr. Merishani, describes the aim of PPPs as being “to deliver improved services and better value for money, primarily through appropriate risk transfer, encouraging innovation, greater asset utilization and an integrated whole-of-life management, underpinned by private financing.”

Public-private partnerships offer several benefits: They provide better infrastructure solutions than an initiative that is wholly public or wholly private. ... Public-private partnerships may include early completion bonuses that further increase efficiency. They can sometimes reduce change order costs as well.