AFRICAN SME INVESTOR ROUNDTABLE

African SME Investor Roundtable (series) aims to identify and unlock investment opportunities in the African SME finance ecosystem priority areas.

The Investor Roundtable brings together leaders from the investment community, including those from some of Africa’s largest superannuation funds, the major banks, DFIs and global asset managers, to identify and overcome barriers to investment in African SMEs.

There is a massive opportunity in promoting greater investment in sectors that deliver both strong returns for investors and strong returns for our community.

Some of Africa’s largest investors such as pension funds, sovereign funds, government reserve fund and other long term asset owners will be represented at the Roundtable, with more interests in SME finance and investment.

The Roundtable series take place at national, sub-regional and Africa regional levels, focusing on the financial needs of SMEs in different sectors and industries. The discussions cover a range of topics including:

• addressing barriers to investment within the SME sector;
• improving revenue streams and investor confidence in the project pipeline to meet risk and return preferences; and
• identifying partnership opportunities for government co‑investment.

Each roundtable focuses on a separate investment class of national or regional importance, given each sector faces unique issues. Each roundtable examines unique topics, such as fintech, data and digitization, agribusiness, travel and tourism, manufacturing, construction, clean energy, transportation, and logistics, etc.

All roundtables include core participants, plus additional attendees that bring relevant expertise to each focus area.

ASFIN is committed to working with investors, regulators and other stakeholders to leverage greater private capital to build a stronger, broader and more sustainable economy and SME finance ecosystem.