While on an official visit to Cape Town, South Africa, President Obama announced the Power Africa initiative – a drive to “double the number of people with access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
While the development boom on the continent is unmistakable and the investment opportunities enormous, nearly 600 million people in Africa still lack access to electricity.
The president promised $7 billion in U.S. taxpayer money to fund the drive to provide at least 10,000 megawatts of electricity to sub-Saharan Africa. That was June 30, 2013.
Since then, U.S. technology, engineering and companies focused on power generation and energy management have been on the ground building mini-grid and off-grid power structures, transmission lines and distribution networks across the continent.
Now that some of the ground work has been laid down, they’re on the hunt to find investors, energy and resource private equity firms, entrepreneurs and banks to broker power deals for businesses looking to tap into emerging markets.
One year later On Friday, June 13, the power players assembled in New York city to highlight the opportunities, invest in the lucrative initiative and harness the growth story.
Inside a packed house, at the Ted Weiss Federal Building in the financial district and the site of the African Burial Ground National Monument, Congressman Gregory Meeks, a democrat from New York, presented “Seizing the Opportunities: Engaging Wall Street on Power Africa.”
He made it clear that the financial opportunities are boundless, not just for the major banks and billion dollar businesses gathered in the rooms, but also for the little guys with a keen eye for investment opportunities and the courage to take the risk.
Meeks says, “What’s also important here today is for the small, medium sized, women and minority owned business owners to get involved. We need more minority firms that are part of the chamber. Their voice must be included.”
The event was split into two panel discussions. The first, moderated by Ambassador Bisa Williams, focused on different ways U.S agencies can assist investors in “identifying and structuring projects,
obtaining financing or guarantees and building partnerships with African entities.” Agencies featured on the panel included (USAID), The World Bank Group, the U.S Chamber of Commerce, the Milken Institute, and the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im).The second panel was moderated by the Wall Street Journal‘s Dan Keeler. This one focused on letting companies, banks and investment firms based in the U.S., well-known for their engagement in Africa, share their insight on investing in Africa and where they see the next big opportunities
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Among the power players on this panel, the Carlyle Group, General Electric, Standard Bank Group, Denham Capital, Standard Chartered, and several other companies. Opening and closing remarks were delivered by Congressman Meeks.
Representatives from more than 50 private and public companies lined up at the event, vying to light up the continent, was symbolic of the potential financial bonanza and the growing refusal of U.S. businesses to be left behind.
The goal is to work with African governments, the private sector and other partners including the World Bank and African Development Bank in six major countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tanzania.
Scott Eisner, vice president of African Affairs and International Operation at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce believes it is time to change the dynamic. He says, “Everyone talks about private partnerships. We should really be focusing on Private-Public partnerships. How the private sector leads with the public sector supporting. Tell the governments what our needs are rather than listening to the governments telling us what we should be doing.”
Their pitch to the African governments is that their respective countries will be better off using American technology, which they say is of better quality, provides long-term stability and delivers a cleaner product, instead of opting to partner with the Chinese, which they say will do it with less environmental standards, less care about the country that its being put into, use fewer African workers and less care about the future of their sustainable network.
It’s a short window and
the clock is ticking for U.S. businesses who wish to get on board. The front line for the U.S. government in many of these emerging markets is the U.S Chambers of Commerce which has established networks across sub-Saharan Africa. It’s a major tool and resource for businesses looking to make deals, to get the right information and connect with the right partners.According to one General Electric executive on the panel, “There is an enormous untapped reservoir of goodwill for American companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. A lot of U.S. businesses see Africa and think risk. But there is opportunity in risk. Africans know that U.S. brands stand for ethics, quality, and reliability. They want to see more American companies on the continent. The question is just simply taking the courage to make that step and partner with the right people on the ground.”
For more information on Power Africa and to learn how to get involved visit www.usaid.gov/powerafrica.
The race to power Africa and make money in the process is on, full steam ahead.