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6 African Business Februar y 2025 Chinese and UAE firms invest in Nigerian industrial park Business Intelligence Deals The national investment bank of Côte d’Ivoire, Banque Nationale d’Investissement (BNI), and the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced a €100m ($104m) financial partnership backed by the European Union to promote youth employment and gender equality, and to increase economic and environmental sustainabilit y in the cocoa sector. The loan by the EIB and BNI is part of the EU Sustainable Cocoa Initiative, which promotes cocoa production without deforestation, as well as economic sustainabilit y and the fight against child labour. Over 90% of the funds will go to firms in the cocoa sector to meet the growing demand for sustainable cocoa produced under new EU environmental and social standards and national legislation. The project will focus on youth and women, with at least half the funds going to firms run by or mainly employing young people. A technical assistance programme will also be launched. The partnership is part of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy to boost global supply chains. China National Chemical Engineering International Corporation (CNCEC) has signed a deal with the Alpha GRIP Management Company (AGMC) for the development, finance and construction of the $20bn Ogidigben Gas Revolution Industrial Park (GRIP) in Delta State, Nigeria. The gas project will host power, fertiliser, petrochemical, LNG, and methanol plants and aluminium smelters as well as secondary industries. The AGMC developer consortium consists of a United Arab Emirates capital investment firm and several companies including Power China and now CNCEC. Renewable power plan promises 120 MW across the continent PowerGen Renewable Energy has partnered with investors to establish a scalable, distributed renewable energ y platform targeting the deployment of 120 MW of renewable power across Africa, including batter y energy storage solutions. The project brings together PowerGen and the Private Infrastructure Development Group; the Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries; EDFI Management Company, through its EUfunded Electrification Financing Initiative; and the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa. It will support the deployment of 120 MW of renewable mini/metro grids and commercial and industrial power, initially focused on Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The first close was reached in January 2025 and additional equity and debt finance will be raised later this year. EIB ag re es €100m for youth, gender equality and sustainable cocoa Afreximbank signs deal with US government Prosper Africa initiative The US government’s Prosper Africa initiative and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to boost trade and investment between the US and Africa. This strategic partnership aims to mobilise trade opportunities and investment capital, with a focus on creative industries, critical minerals, emerging technologies, and textile manufacturing. The MoU outlines several areas of collaboration, including capital access facilitation; technical and transaction advisor y support for creative deals; small and medium enterprise (SME) development for agribusiness and textiles; support for Afreximbank’s Creative Africa Nexus; and strategic event collaboration. Scaling the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which offers African manufacturers tariff-free access to the US market, is another goal.
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Februar y 2025 African Business 7 Business Intelligence News Factors that will add to global fragmentation include protectionism, conflict, sanctions and national securit y concerns, chief economists predict, writes Camilla Mina. More than three-quarters of chief economists polled by the World Economic Forum (WEF) expect multinational companies to embark on potentially costly changes as a result of increasing global economic fragmentation. Four days ahead of WEF’s annual meeting in Davos, the organisation’s Chief Economists Outlook compiled the views of chief economists to draw a picture of increasing global economic dislocation. Of economists polled, 91% expect multinationals to restructure their supply chains and 90% expect firms to regionalise their operations as a result of fragmentation. Further, 79% expect multinationals to focus on activity in core markets and 76% expect exits from highrisk markets. “The latest Chief Economists Outlook reveals a global economy under considerable strain,” says Aengus Collins, head of economic growth and transformation at the WEF. The report highlighted the intensifying trade tensions expected in the coming years between major powers and more broadly. Factors that will contribute to such tensions and fragmentation include protectionism, conflict, sanctions and national security concerns, the report predicts. “Recent events, particularly in Ukraine and across the Middle East, suggest that the trend of widening and intensifying geopolitical instabilit y may still have some way to go,” says the report. Over the next three years, global fragmentation will lead to a widening divide between the Global North and South, believe 64% of respondents, while 79% expect the emergence of “a more bipolar global system”. Meanwhile, the prospects for global collaboration on climate change are darkening, according to 81% of respondents. At a global scale, some 82% of respondents predict greater regionalisation of trade over the next three years, alongside a continuing gradual shift from goods to ser vices. For Africa, further regionalisation could lead to a strengthening of intra-continental trade networks, potentially making African economies more interdependent and competitive globally. At the same time, this regionalisation could further reinforce inequalities in technology and skills across countries and could contribute to a slower service sector shift. Moderate growth expectations for Africa Based on the survey, the majority of respondents reported that they had moderate expectations for economic growth in 2025 for both Sub-Saharan Africa Fragmentation will hit multinationals, say economists (52%) and the Middle East and North Africa (64%). Expectations for inflation were high with 80% of respondents expecting moderate or even higher inflation for Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa regions in 2025. Collaboration between African countries will be essential for sustainable growth in a strained global political landscape. The findings indicate that advanced economies tend to benefit more than developing economies from ser vices trade, but a majority of the chief economists point to the increasing importance of ser vices as a driver of economic development. “Deepening fragmentation in hightechnology sectors threatens to have an outsized economic impact, given that in most countries, these sectors tend to be high growth and highly trade-intensive,” said the report.

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6 African Business Februar y 2025

Chinese and UAE firms invest in Nigerian industrial park

Business Intelligence Deals The national investment bank of Côte d’Ivoire, Banque Nationale d’Investissement (BNI), and the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced a €100m ($104m) financial partnership backed by the European Union to promote youth employment and gender equality, and to increase economic and environmental sustainabilit y in the cocoa sector. The loan by the EIB and BNI is part of the EU Sustainable Cocoa Initiative, which promotes cocoa production without deforestation, as well as economic sustainabilit y and the fight against child labour. Over 90% of the funds will go to firms in the cocoa sector to meet the growing demand for sustainable cocoa produced under new EU environmental and social standards and national legislation. The project will focus on youth and women, with at least half the funds going to firms run by or mainly employing young people. A technical assistance programme will also be launched. The partnership is part of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy to boost global supply chains.

China National Chemical Engineering International Corporation (CNCEC) has signed a deal with the Alpha GRIP Management Company (AGMC) for the development, finance and construction of the $20bn Ogidigben Gas Revolution Industrial Park (GRIP) in Delta State, Nigeria. The gas project will host power, fertiliser, petrochemical, LNG, and methanol plants and aluminium smelters as well as secondary industries. The AGMC developer consortium consists of a United Arab Emirates capital investment firm and several companies including Power China and now CNCEC.

Renewable power plan promises 120 MW across the continent

PowerGen Renewable Energy has partnered with investors to establish a scalable, distributed renewable energ y platform targeting the deployment of 120 MW of renewable power across Africa, including batter y energy storage solutions. The project brings together PowerGen and the Private Infrastructure Development Group; the Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries; EDFI Management Company, through its EUfunded Electrification Financing Initiative; and the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa. It will support the deployment of 120 MW of renewable mini/metro grids and commercial and industrial power, initially focused on Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The first close was reached in January 2025 and additional equity and debt finance will be raised later this year.

EIB ag re es €100m for youth, gender equality and sustainable cocoa

Afreximbank signs deal with US government Prosper Africa initiative

The US government’s Prosper Africa initiative and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to boost trade and investment between the US and Africa. This strategic partnership aims to mobilise trade opportunities and investment capital, with a focus on creative industries, critical minerals, emerging technologies, and textile manufacturing. The MoU outlines several areas of collaboration, including capital access facilitation; technical and transaction advisor y support for creative deals; small and medium enterprise (SME) development for agribusiness and textiles; support for Afreximbank’s Creative Africa Nexus; and strategic event collaboration. Scaling the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which offers African manufacturers tariff-free access to the US market, is another goal.

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