Event
On March 4th, Dar hosted a workshop for the United Kingdom Department for Business and Trade – Africa (UKDBT - Africa) at Sidara’s headquarters in 150 Holborn, London, under the theme of closing Africa’s infrastructure financing gap.
The event brought together infrastructure EPC contractors as well as global business leaders with an interest in supporting infrastructure development in African countries. Guests included senior representatives from the UKDBT, Arab Contractors, CMS, ECC, ERG International, Hassan Allam Holdings, Innovo Projects, ORASCOM, PROPAV, and ROWAD, as well as senior representatives from ABSA, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), British International Investment (BII), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), InfraCo Africa, Ninety-One, SMBC, Standard Bank, Sunbird BioEnergy, TDB, United Kingdom Export Finance (UKEF), and many more. The event was organised and managed by Invest Africa, supporting UKDBT.
The workshop was an opportunity to bring together UK government officials, infrastructure EPC contractors working in Africa, and representatives of international financing organisations which have a demonstrated track record or interest in supporting infrastructure projects that have brought value to communities in Africa.
To facilitate this conversation, the event featured opening remarks by Paul Grey, Head of Exports for Africa, UKDBT and Chantele Carrington, CEO, Invest Africa. Dar London’s Managing Director, Daniel Horner, then gave a speech welcoming guests and outlining Dar’s 55 years of operations across Africa and our company’s role in delivering strategic building and infrastructure projects across the continent.
The first roundtable session, moderated by Sameh Shenouda, Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer, AFC, addressed unlocking funding sources of viable infrastructure investment. The second session, moderated by Mohamed Elwakeel, Head of Business Development-Africa, Dar, addressed the challenges faced by EPC contractors in accessing finance for African projects, recommendations for improving investment climate for infrastructure projects and case studies of successful implemented projects financed through innovative models (blended finance; PPPs and local currency financing). The closing remarks were given at the end of the open discussion session moderated by Radwa Sultan, Infrastructure Sector Director – Africa, UKDBT.
The three workshop sessions showed great engagement from all participants. To build on this successful first workshop, Dar is looking forward to hosting the next UKDBT workshop on closing Africa’s infrastructure financing gap.