Africa lags in most of the United Nations SDGs

Impact Investment in Africa is growing and there is a need for impact investing in order to drive the continent to reach its full potential.

Impact investing has been considerably concentrated in a few core sectors and as the ecosystem continues to grow and gain traction, much more capital is needed to achieve the growing demand. The inflow of capital is highly concentrated where 3 of the 54 countries dominate the receipts.

To solve part of the gaps that the continents still register there is a need of investments in infrastructures – social needs, logistics solutions, communications accessibility; industrialization – to unlock the 4th industrial revolution; and promotion of intra-regional trade, ensuring relative strengths leveraged for resource security and economic independence.

There also other conclusions from the report:

• Opportunities for Impact Investing in Africa is driven by the fact that the continent lags behind with implementing most of the UN’s SDGs;
• The largest population- and urbanization growth rates are predicted for Africa;
• Africa has an appealing investment case that can drive long term global economic growth;
• Supply-side capital for Impact Investing for Africa amounts to 14% globally, with the majority still sourced from DFI’s;
• The gap analysis shows that development and impact have been concentrated to a few sectors (Energy and Financial Services) and African countries;
• Gaps in investment include: awareness of impact, sourcing investment projects that meet both social and financial mandates, regulatory and leadership vacuums, impact measurement gaps and employment and skill gaps.

Source: PIC