The UK Impact Investor and Development Finance Institute (DFI) CDC Group announced a pledge to invest more than US$1 billion in African businesses again in 2021. The commitment will encourage CDC to invest in many more promising African companies and small and medium-sized enterprises and will continue to drive inclusive growth and job creation across the continent, where more than half of the institution’s portfolio is now being invested. Financial institutions, infrastructure and environment, services, manufacturing, agriculture, real estate and technology will be invested in the funds.
At the UK-Africa Investment Conference, CDC announced plans to broaden its Africa portfolio with new investments in key markets, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and the hard-to-reach frontier markets of the continent, where significant gains can be made. Over the past three years, CDC has invested more than £2.7 billion in African companies as the world’s largest bilateral growth investor in Africa. In 2019, more than 320,000 direct jobs in Africa were funded by CDC investments, adding close to US$1.5 billion in taxes to local economies.