Prosper Africa plans $170m investment to boost African exports

At the U.S.-Africa Business Forum’s Deal Room, the White House’s Prosper Africa initiative has announced an ambitious set of multimillion-dollar investments to boost African exports and infrastructure and mobilise private investment to accelerate African innovation.

Prosper Africa is the U.S. Government initiative to increase two-way trade and investment between African nations and the United States.

The announcement was made in the Business Forum’s Deal Room – held on the second day of the U.S. Africa Leaders’ Summit – which brought together African heads of state, and U.S. and African investors, business leaders, and government officials to advance trade and investment partnerships that create jobs and drive inclusive and sustainable growth on both sides of the Atlantic.

Prosper Africa’s Chief Operating Officer, Leslie Marbury, said: “Africa offers some of the greatest growth opportunities for shared prosperity in African nations and the United States. We are committed to investing in Africa’s transformative growth and untapped market opportunities.”

Prosper Africa announced a package of commitments to boost African exports to the United States by $1 billion in the next five years, including:

•New partnerships that will connect thousands of U.S. buyers and African suppliers to expand supply chain operations on the continent, increase access to trade preferences under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and advance the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

•An e-commerce and digital trade alliance with major U.S. companies to fuel Africa’s technological revolution. Recognizing the tremendous growth potential of Africa’s technology sector, the Prosper Africa Tech for Trade Alliance will accelerate e-commerce and digital trade in Africa and address legal, regulatory, and logistical bottlenecks.
It also announced new partnerships to mobilise an investment target of $1 billion in private capital to advance African infrastructure and innovation, including:

•A $25 million partnership with TradeMark East Africa and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to establish Trade Catalyst Africa, an investment facility that is expected to leverage at least $90 million of private financing for African infrastructure with the potential to expand continent-wide.

•New partnerships with the Institutional Investor Network and global advisory firm MiDA Advisors that will channel large-scale investments into African infrastructure and build enduring relationships between the trillion dollar U.S. pension community and their African counterparts.

•Investments in five pioneering partnerships to grow the African asset management space and drive investment of over $200 million in African small businesses. The combination of these five partnerships, with a focus on addressing global challenges like climate change, food security, and women’s empowerment, will benefit hundreds of thousands of people and generate millions of dollars in revenue for businesses.

Since 2019, the U.S. Government has helped close 1,100 deals across 49 African countries for a total estimated value of $65 billion.