The West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) has launched a Virtual DealRoom to provide global investors with details on the Trade Hub’s growing pipeline of impact market opportunities.
The Trade Hub, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), aims to use a market-based approach to catalyze economic growth in West Africa.
The Trade Hub anticipates attracting $400 million in new private investment through its co-investment fund.
The Virtual DealRoom was launched on Asoko Insight, a corporate data and collaboration platform that enables global investors, multinationals, and development organizations to find, shortlist, and connect with African businesses.
Investors will now interact with a variety of diversified, investment-ready companies from the Trade Hub’s wider portfolio through this creative portal.
Until gaining access to the Virtual DealRoom, all prospective investors and the companies chosen are vetted.
This activity aims to strengthen the Trade Hub’s partnerships with foreign and domestic investors in West Africa in order to boost companies’ capacity to expand operations, increase efficiency, and create employment.
“Private sector investment is critical to growth in West Africa and the continent as a whole, but identifying and screening companies is always a challenge for investors looking to make a difference,” said Michael Clements, Chief of Party at the Trade Hub.
“The Virtual DealRoom aims to help solve this conundrum, and the Trade Hub is excited to see how it can be used to boost regional economic growth.”
The first batch of select transactions, totaling approximately $30 million in new impact opportunities, is now available to investors.
These companies were chosen by the Trade Hub based on their stage of development, location, and industry. Agriculture, financial services, healthcare, water and sanitation, biodiversity, ecotourism, biomass, apparel, and logistics are among the industries represented in the deal pipeline. Over the course of 2021, The DealRoom will add over 100 select deals to its pipeline.
Asoko Insight COO and Co-Founder Greg Cohen said, “It’s exciting to work with USAID and the Trade Hub at a time when it’s allocating more money to private sector growth in Africa.”
“Asoko’s research and origination work in West Africa demonstrates a diverse range of high-quality, creative companies that can compete in the global supply chain but lack the necessary funding and marketability to succeed.
The Trade Hub has identified a number of high-quality opportunities across the city, and we’re proud to assist them in gaining access to these businesses so that new local champions can emerge.”
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