Property News

By Shanna | June 28, 2010

 Africa investor (Ai), a leading international investment research and communications group, in partnership with The Africa Group (TAG), an Africa-focused consulting, research, and advisory firm, has announced the launch of their ground-breaking Africa Wealth Cheque Report.

The Wealth Report has identified US $1.671 trillion of potential wealth and additional production potential in six key sectors (agriculture, water, fisheries, forestry, tourism and human capital). This represents a combined market size today of $909 billion and $762.4bn of additional potential production. The report also estimates current proven stocks of extractable energy resources in Africa (oil, natural gas, coal, and uranium) to be worth between $13-14.5trn.

Explaining the Africa Wealth Cheque Report, Hubert Danso, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Africa investor, said: “The aim of the Africa Wealth Cheque Report was to identify and estimate how much natural, economic and human capital wealth is within the continent, in essence to quantify the beginnings of the asset side of Africa’s balance sheet.” Discussing the importance of the report, Danso went on to say, “The report is unique as it is already catalysing debate about how wealthy as opposed to how poor the continent is, and signalling tipping points for African governments and global investors seeking growth opportunities.”

Africa investor-TAG say there is nearly three times the average multiple growth potential in the agriculture sector, stemming from projects such as the $780 million Zambezi Integrated Agricultural-Community Development Programme, forestry (to $111bn) and fisheries (to $44bn), and a doubling of the market for water to $25bn. An additional $217bn may be spent on human capital inputs, in terms of wage return growth across the service, industrial and agricultural sectors.

“At the highest level, Africa is similar to any other private investment – investors must take on risk to pursue an addressable market opportunity. What makes Africa unique is that incremental dollars invested into Africa will begin to unlock a previously inaccessible market of equal or greater size than Africa today,” says The Africa Group, emphasising that potential returns could be extraordinary.

The Africa Wealth Cheque Report will appear in the July-August issue of Africa investor magazine and will be available on newsstands from the beginning of July. For more information about subscribing to Africa investor, contact Owen Mbangeni on (+27) 11 783 2431, or at ombangeni@africa-investor.com.

For more information on the report or research-related interviews, please contact: Shanna Jacobsen on (011) 783 2431 or sjacobsen@africa-investor.com or Matthew Thompson on matthew@theafricagroup.com.

About Africa investor - www.africa-investor.com 

Africa investor is a specialist investment communications firm advising governments, international organisations and businesses on communication strategies for capital market and foreign direct investments in Africa. Africa investor publishes Africa investor, the leading international newsstand magazine for Africa’s investment decision makers; maintains the Africa investor 40 Investors’ Index, hosts the Ai Index Series Summit & Awards and the Africa investor Infrastructure Projects Summit & Awards, amongst other events.

About The Africa Group - www.theafricagroup.com 

The Africa Group is a consulting, research, and advisory firm focused on economic growth and investment across the continent of Africa. The Africa Group is defined by its people, and brings together a customised team to meet the needs of each client. TAG unites the efforts of individuals across the globe to bring together international best practices with local expertise.