24 January, 2008
IFSC prepares for global investors conference

GABORONE - The 7th annual African Venture Capital Conference (AVCA) will be held in Botswana for the first time in March this year.

The conference, organized by Botswana International Financial Services (IFSC) and Venture Partners Botswana (VPB) will be held under the theme Africa Rising: Opportunity and perspective for Equity and Venture Capital.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr Alan Boshwaen said the conference is expected to attract about 400 investors from across the world, particularly France, Netherlands and from the Asian continent.

The three-day conference he said is an opportunity to showcase Botswana as a viable financial hub. He said the conference will put Botswana Venture Capital Industry on the map.

Having a conference of this magnitude will expose the projects that the country is looking forward to embarking on, he said.

He said the conference serves as a networking forum for local and international managers from big companies to share their experiences and achievements.

The Minister for Finance and Development Planning Mr Baledzi Gaolathe will this year open the conference, which was held in Senegal last year.

Private Equity investing in Africa is among the key issues that will be discussed during the three-day conference.

Mr Boshwaen said this is aimed at identifying opportunities or projects for private equity investment in Africa like infrastructure and energy utilities.

He said other issues that will feature in the conference include Perspectives from China as the Asian power house has shown interest in financing projects in Africa.

He added that the Chinese have an important role in financing most projects in Africa. Other issues that will be discussed are banking and insurance, marketing and agric-business. BOPA