Africa Unit

Overview

The Africa Unit SBU is headed by Thokoane Tsolo. In line with the national thrust to support NEPAD (New Africa Partnership for Africa’s Development) the IDC extended its reach beyond the local borders of South Africa to the SADC region in 1998 and to the rest of Africa (RoA) in 2002.

The need for the IDC to extend its operations to the rest of the African continent was mainly because:

South Africa’s future prosperity is inextricably linked to the economic development of the rest of Africa (RoA)
The rest of Africa represents enormous market potential and resources yet untapped
Existing South African products and services can contribute to the development of the continent’s various economies
Africa is projected as one of the last bastions of economic growth and IDC would like to make its mark in this significant era.

Leadership by example

IDC has a wealth of experience spanning 64 years that can be utilized in the development of the region and has recorded the successful completion of several projects under extremely challenging circumstances in South Africa and the continent. Working with locally-based partners helps us to overcome intrinsic regional hurdles and IDC is proud to be playing a key role in the industrial transformation of Africa.

The Africa unit

This specialized team spearheads our involvement with the economic development of SADC (Southern African Development Community) and the rest of Africa (RoA). It is responsible for business development activities such as marketing our products, identifying suitable financing and investment opportunities on the continent and managing our relationships with clients and stakeholders on the continent. The Unit promotes development oriented projects among locally based operating / technical partners by highlighting their potential long-term sustainability and commercial viability. Through its promotional activities, the Africa Unit has raised IDC’s profile throughout the continent and generated widespread interests in our activities. It has established working relationships with development finance institutions and regional forums in 34 African countries.

Its objectives are:

To promote sustainable development in Africa
To market our products and schemes across the continent
To target suitable investment opportunities
To support development initiatives
To provide investment guidance when necessary and
To assist regional policy formulation

Sectors of interest:

Mining & beneficiation
Agro processing
Infrastructure (telecoms, energy, water & sanitation, transport, etc.)
Tourism
Public Private Partnerships
Healthcare
Education
Manufacturing (in general)
Information Communication & Technology
Forestry & related products
Franchising
Transportation and
Construction

Key considerations

The Africa Unit considers a wide range of projects on our behalf and gives preference to those which;

Are economically viable and sustainable in the medium to long term
Benefit a large number of people, regional groupings and / or local communities
Include a credible operating partner
Are sizeable and indicate an acceptable degree of self-sustainance within a reasonable time frame
Entail significant contributions from respective promoters

Our financial products

Equity
Quasi-equity
Commercial debt
Export finance
Guarantees
Wholesale finance

If you have a project that meets the above requirements, kindly contact the Africa Unit – click here to email us.

We also:

Belong to the SADC Development Funding Regional Council
Support capacity building initiatives for SADC DFIs and other regional DFIs
Participate in regional trade & investment promotion activities alongside the Department of Trade & Industry ( DTI)
Provide credit lines to intermediaries and regional DFIs on the continent