The UK-Africa Investment Summit was held in London on 20 January 2020. Over 1000 people attended, including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and 16 Heads of State from African Governments. The UK set out its ambition to increase trade (which is currently only 2% of all UK trade) and investment links with Africa.
But we have been here before and lofty trade and investment plans have so far failed to translate into the significant development of African businesses, certainly not on the scale required to achieve the job creation and economic growth that Africa’s people need.
Africa’s biggest problem is not the lack of money flowing into the continent, but the rivers flowing out. This is partly because profits made in Africa by foreign investors are typically paid out to shareholders in the West rather than re-invested in Africa.
At Strand Sahara we are passionate about driving the financial empowerment of Africa’s people by facilitating the creation and success of more African businesses, whose taxes and profits will benefit African populations and increase prosperity and opportunity on the continent.
London has long been the legal and financial services capital of the world, so professional services providers in the UK are well placed to increase trade with and investment in Africa by providing African businesses with easily accessible and affordable professional services support to get them primed for growth and investment. In our opinion, the aim should be for more African businesses to export into the UK market, as well as vice versa.
