The ICF is a new vehicle for improving investment conditions in Africa. It has been endorsed by key African institutions, including NEPAD; major donor agencies; and key private sector interests. It provides the private sector, G8 countries, and donor agencies with a practical opportunity for reducing barriers to investment in Africa. The ICF will be managed according to business principles The ICF will support appropriately targeted practical interventions. It will systematically focus on areas where practical steps can be taken to remove identified constraints and problems.

There is growing consensus that a favourable investment climate is vital for economic development. Investment is essential for economic growth, which leads to job creation, better services, and greater prosperity.

Click on the image to download the ICF Brochure

The extent to which a given country provides an enabling business environment strongly infuences the decisions of domestic and international investors. Business environments are created by government policies, laws and regulations, and the way in which they are implemented. African policy-makers are increasingly recognising that obstacles to both domestic and international investment are seriously impeding Africa's development. If Africa is to reach the core Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living on less than US$1 a day by 2015, it must achieve a sustained economic growth rate of 7 per cent a year. To arrive at this target, African governments and the private sector must develop a joint vision of how the investment climate should be improved, and form an effective partnership for doing so.

The ICF will be guided in its selection of where to work using a competitive “best bid” host country selection process based on the demonstrated strength of the country's commitment to act on reform recommendations coming out of the ICF process.  The ICF strategy will be to start work on a particular problem in a country on a pilot basis (where conditions for success are optimal) and then, once success has been achieved, to work with other countries to introduce a proven reform process.  The initial phase of ICF operations will be driven by three strategic themes:

  • Intra-African trade – improving Africa’s import and export environment and improving and simplifying administration in order to facilitate cross-border trade
  • Facilitation of business development and expansion – focusing on ICT and infrastructure development, business registration and licensing and property rights
  • Facilitation of financial and investment environment – developing capital markets, increasing access to finance for enterprises, improving the regulatory environment for second and third tier institutions and facilitating improved digital infrastructure

The ICF will also work towards improving Africa's image as an attractive investment destination, publicising, among other things, improvements made to the investment climate. It will work with African governments, regional organisations, donors, companies and civil society to prepare and finance initiatives to improve the investment climate at national, regional and at a continental level.

The objectives of the ICF are to:

  • Build the environment for investment climate reform
    • Encourage, develop and work with coalitions for investment climate reform, and support business government dialogue.
  • Get the investment climate right
    • Support governments in creating a legal, regulatory and administrative environment that encourages businesses at all levels to invest, grow and create jobs.
  • Encourage business to respond
    • Improve Africa's image as an investment destination through a coordinated effort to publicise improvements in the investment climate.

An independent board accountable to the ICF's investors as well as African and other high-level stakeholders governs the ICF. The ICF's Board of Trustees is made up of African business and political leaders, and individuals strongly committed to Africa. NEPAD has observer status on the Board.

The ICF sets an annual plan, budget and associated performance targets and annually reviews progress against Key Performance Indicators. The Board and Secretariat are held accountable for their performance against these indicators

The ICF has set a target of $110 Million for its first three-year phase, the majority of which was raised prior to the launch of the ICF. While being fully operational and funding expenditure form the capital raised so far, the ICF is seeking additional funds from development agencies and corporate investors to increase the scope and the scale of its impact.

The ICF business model clearly states that the ICF will measure its success solely on its contribution to economic activity in the different countries of engagement, including increased economic growth, growth in employment, productivity growth and increase in investments.  The ICF tracks its progress against a core set of indicators that focus specifically on these impacts.  These core indicators have been selected on the basis of their measurability, their potential to drive policy, their predictive capacity, and their amenability to comparison across countries and regions to allow for benchmarking.  The ICF will measure its progress against the following indicators:

  1. Sustained increase in economic growth (GDP)
  2. Increase in FDI and portfolio inflows
  3. Increase in gross fixed capital investments
  4. Increase in domestic investments and African Diaspora investment (gross fixed capital)
  5. Increase in new businesses registered
  6. Increased private sector employment
  7. Ease of doing business - cost and time associated with compliance
  8. Perceptions of political risk

ICF would like to acknowledge the support of the following:

  • Niall FitzGerald and Benjamin Mkapa
  • Members of the Interim International Advisory Group
  • Members of the current working group
  • Deloitte for its pro bono work on setting up the ICF's interim structure
  • SBP in its capacity as Interim Principal Agent

 

Contact Us
Address: 2nd Floor, 50 Mirambo Street, P.O. Box 9114 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Tel: +255 22 212 9211 | Fax: +255 22 212 9210 | Email for information: info@icfafrica.org
Email for projects: projects@icfafrica.org

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