Development finance institutions (DFIs) play a significant role in African markets, and are critical to unlocking much of Africa’s abundant potential.
Given their mandate, DFIs are often able to fund projects where high risk perception has dampened the appetite of private capital. They have historically played an important bridging role in many jurisdictions, by scaling up their lending operations when private financial institutions have experienced temporary difficulties or other constraints in granting credit.
However, in recent years, they have also played a significant part in acting as tools to drive change and reform based on economic policy and strategy, having heavily invested in sector based growth in the transport, energy, water, ICT and other infrastructure sectors - all of which are integral to Africa’s development.
DFI’s have a vital role to play in Africa across the full spectrum of their development mandate - from deploying early-stage development capital to capacity building to traditional development financing.
This panel session will explore the ever evolving role of the DFI in the African context, and will touch on some of the more recent developments regarding the way in which they operate - including the way in which they identify and evaluate opportunities, their interaction with the private sector, their approach to their mandates and their risk appetite (and governance related issues).
Moderator:
Director, Finance, Projects & Restructuring | DLA Piper
Speakers:
Steven Gardon
Regional Director, Southern Africa & Indian Ocean | Proparco
Africa Investment Advisor | U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)
Regional Director, Southern Africa | DEG
Group Executive: Origination & Coverage | Development Bank of Southern Africa