Giving Compass' Take:

• Kelli Rogers highlights revelations and decisions from the African Development Bank’s 53rd Annual Meetings including priorities and strategies. 

• How can donors use this information to guide their own giving? What role can impact investing play in donors' portfolios? 

• Learn how investors can support entrepreneurs addressing issues in Africa. 

Bolstered by two decades of economic growth, the African continent must now boost infrastructure development, hasten regional integration, and improve its investment climate — all of which garnered discussion at the African Development Bank’s 53rd Annual Meetings in Busan.

1. A green light for capital increase discussions:

While industrialization strategy dominated public sessions, it was the capital increase that ruled behind-the-scenes talks. The bank has “gotten the green light to start discussion on a capital increase,” Pierre Guislain, AfDB vice president of private sector, infrastructure, and industrialization, told Devex.

2. Industrialization isn’t as simple as adding value:

“Just the fact that you produce the raw material doesn’t give you an advantage downstream … This area has been much exaggerated as an area for Africa’s production,” he said during a session on the subject.

One strategy that does hold promise, he added, is building stronger value chains to link locally-produced products to supermarkets. And if agriculture can be developed alongside the entire value chain, it would boost the manufacturing sector and create jobs.

3. Climate finance on the rise:

The bank continues to ramp up its investment to address climate change impact. In 2017, AfDB dedicated 28 percent of its commitments — $2.35 billion — to climate finance. By 2020, the bank is aiming for 40 percent.

4. Investing in fragile states:

The AfDB identifies private sector development, which makes up about 37 percent of its portfolio, as one of its fundamental areas of focus. Increasingly, the bank is also looking at how to operate in fragile states or transition countries that come attached with higher risk and higher financing.

5. No time like the present to invest in Africa’s people:

Aside from basic infrastructure, lack of appropriate skills is one of the main constraints Africa faces in its quest to leapfrog, said Adesina.

Rising skills mismatch, low productivity in the informal sector, and unemployment and underemployment among a large youth population are issues the bank is seeking to tackle.

Read the full article about African Development Bank's 53rd Annual Meetings by Kelli Rogers at Devex International Development.