The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need to develop new essential power, transport, social, supply chain and logistics infrastructure assets, to build more resilience, to shield Africa from the current and anticipated future pandemics.

African pension and sovereign wealth funds through the Continental Business Network (CBN), are investigating the role which they can play through the use of capital, knowledge and portfolio companies, to Build Africa’s Project Development Pipelines Back Better in a Post COVID-19 Economy.

To achieve this the CBN has established the CBN Project Development Investment Working Group initiative.

The vast majority of Africa’s essential infrastructure is greenfield and yet to be designed, developed, financed and built.

The primary aim of the CBN Project Development Investment Working Group initiative is to crowd-in capital to private sector led project development, and accelerate the project development to financial close.

The Working Group’s focus will be on supporting the Private Sector Project Development Community, by mobilizing private capital allocations and finance into bankable project development opportunities, and establishing African project development as an investable asset class, and highlighting policy bottlenecks and solutions, to attract long-term private capital to the continent’s project and pipeline development activities.

• Investable Project Development Platforms Database initiative
• De-risking Commercial Project Development initiative
• Unsolicited Bids Framework initiative
• COVID-19 Build Back Better Project Development Investment Policy Statement

The Working Group’s activities are designed to compliment the African Union Development Agency’s (AUDA’s) 5% Agenda supportive investment initiatives, championed through the African Infrastructure Investment Guarantee Mechanism (AIGM) and the Co-Guarantee Platform (CGP) housed at the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Working Group members will comprise of accomplished infrastructure project developers, financiers, investment and risk mitigation professionals and advisors.

The Working Group will be coordinated by the CBN Secretariat, with updates and outputs routinely being presented to the CBN Council for review, endorsement and implementation.

The Working Group’s Policy Statement and Roadmap, will be the guiding instrument for the CBN Council’s engagement with public sector stakeholders and leaders on the CBN’s work on Infrastructure Project Development.