Zenith Bank CEO to investors: Come to Africa

The CEO of Zenith Bank (Ghana) Limited., Daniel Asiedu, has urged investors (both local and foreign) to consider investing their funds in Africa.

Speaking in an interview, ahead of the much-anticipated Vodafone Africa Business Leaders Forum scheduled to take place on the 10th – 12th November this year in Accra, Ghana, Asiedu noted that in the past ten years, six out of the ten fastest growing economies in the world have emerged from sub-Saharan Africa namely Angola, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Chad, Mozambique and Rwanda.

This is further backed by International Monetary Fund‘s (IMF) prediction that Africa will grab seven of the top ten places in the next five years. In the same vein, some research institutions have predicted that Africa’s economy will grow at an average of 7%, which is slightly faster than that of China.

40 percent of Africa’s population of 1 billion, live in the cities compared to 28 percent that lived in the cities in 1980. It is projected that the figure will rise to 50 percent by 2030 with Africa’s top 18 cities having a combined spending power of US$1.3 trillion.

The combined GDP of African countries is greater than US$1.6 trillion and larger than that of India or Brazil. It is the 10th biggest economy in the world.

Africa’s real compound GDP growth has been 5% annually between 2002 – 2009 which is at par with Russia and higher than that of developed countries.

He also stressed that democracy, which in turn has led to greater accountability, improvement of economic management, urbanization and rising incomes have all contributed positively to Africa’s success story.

Asiedu also mentioned that top investment destinations in Africa such as Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Angola, Mauritius, Morocco, Kenya, and Uganda have put together an array of incentives to encourage Foreign Direct Investments including the setting up of Export Free Zones, consolidating various agencies required to process investment procedures into one cohesive agency thus eliminating bureaucracy and shortening the timelines of investors.

On Zenith Bank’s presence in Africa and elsewhere, he said, “we can be found in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia and the United Kingdom. We also have a representative office in South Africa and will soon be in China.”