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The UK-Africa Investment Summit which held Monday in London has yielded business deals of about £6.5 billion with Nigeria among the top gainers, according to the British government.
In its official statement on the outcome of the summit, the UK said the deals signed with African countries span various sectors including trade, infrastructure, energy, retail and technology.
The commercial deals were signed with popular British firms such as Rolls Royce, GSK, and Diageo, in addition to “more (deals) worth billions”.
The UK also announced over £1.5 billion of aid-funded initiatives “expected to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and mobilise over £2.4 billion of additional private investment for the continent”.
“The UK committed to over £397 million of new programmes to boost further trade and investment links between the UK and Africa,” it said.
“The UK also announced new initiatives and funding which will strengthen the joint trading relationship, support African countries in their ambition to transform their economies, launch a major new partnership with the city of London, turbo-charge infrastructure financing, and enable Africa’s clean energy potential.”
The statement said while at least 46 African countries will benefit from the business deals and new funded initiatives, there were also country-specific interventions announced.
A close look at the interventions showed Nigeria was among the top beneficiaries with at least seven of such interventions involving the country.
The statement said the UK government will “deliver new partnerships with Investment Promotion Agencies in Nigeria and South Africa (funding of £25 million).
“Significantly uplift work on women’s economic empowerment: expanding the Work and Opportunities for Women programme across Africa which works with business to improve economic opportunities and outcomes for women in their supply chains (funding of £6.1 million); expanding the SheTrades programme supporting female entrepreneurs to access trading opportunities in Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya (funding of £3.5 million).
