Ramaphosa announces R1.2 trillion investment drive

Source: Fin 24, 16/04/2018

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Monday evening that South
Africa would host a major investment conference in August or
September 2018, which would aim to raise over R1trn in new
investments over five years.
`The investment conference, which will involve domestic and
international investors in equal measure, is not intended merely as a
forum to discuss the investment climate,` said Ramaphosa, according
to his prepared notes.
He was speaking at OR Tambo International Airport, before leaving for
a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London.
`Rather, we expect the conference to report on actual investment
deals that have been concluded and to provide a platform for would-be
investors to seek out opportunities in the South African market. We
are determined that the conference produce results that can be
quantified and quickly realised.`
Ramaphosa said government hopes that the conference would generate at
least $100bn - or about R1.2trn -in new investments over the next
five years.
`Given the current rates of investment, this is an ambitious but
realisable target that will provide a significant boost to our
economy.`
The president first referred to plans to hold an major investment
conference during his maiden State of the Nation Address in mid-
February.
Special envoys
Ramaphosa also unveiled the names of four `special envoys on
investment`, who he said would spend the next few months engaging
both domestic and foreign investors around economic opportunities in
SA.
They are former minister of finance Trevor Manuel, former deputy
minister of finance Mcebisi Jonas, executive chair of the Afropulse
Group Phumzile Langeni, and chair of the Liberty Group and former
Standard Bank head Jacko Maree.
`They will be travelling to major financial centres in Asia, Middle
East, Europe and the Americas to meet with potential investors. A
major part of their responsibility will be to seek out investors in
other parts of Africa, from Nairobi to Lagos and from Dakar to
Cairo,` he said.
The president also named businesswoman Trudi Makhaya as his economic
adviser. Makhaya holds a number of degrees in business and economics,
including from Oxford University and the University of the
Witwatersrand.
Ramaphosa said that Makhaya would coordinate the work of the four
special envoys and organise a series of investment roadshows in
preparation for the conference.
According to Makhaya`s website, she has served as an adviser and
angel investor to a number of companies, and has held non-executive
directorships at Vumelana Advisory Fund and MTN South Africa.
She has also held management or consulting roles at Deloitte South
Africa, Genesis Analytics, AngloGold Ashanti and the Competition
Commission.