Invest Africa and Business Council for Africa Announce Strategic Partnership

Jun 5, 2017

2 min read

Business Council for Africa and Invest Africa Announce Strategic Partnership

Invest Africa and the Business Council for Africa announce that they will be collaborating in a new partnership from June.

BCA has been established for over 60 years with a strong heritage and reputation for connecting the private sector with trade and investment opportunities across the continent. Based in London, it has representatives throughout Africa and a membership base of over 200 companies, ranging from multi-nationals to leading entrepreneurs. IA was founded in 2013 by Robert Hersov as a platform for business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs. With offices in London, New York, Dubai, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Geneva it has established an invaluable network of decision makers across top global organisations.

Both organisations maintain their belief that a responsible and profitable private sector has a crucial role to play in Africa’s development. It is in this spirit that they continue to advise and assist their members.

In the UK, there are a number of independent companies, associations and foundations promoting trade and investment into Africa. All of these membership organisations or networks are providing similar services and in many cases, are competing. This does not achieve the common goal of promoting Africa trade and investment and in many instances, does not benefit the sector. Against this background, each organisation’s respective offerings will be consolidated into one portal for trade and investment into Africa and will represent a new phase in the activities of both entities. Karen Taylor will assume the role of CEO of the joint operation and the BCA and IA teams will be

co-located.

BCA Chairman David Lamb said “A post-Brexit world opens doors into African business, which is today crucially and increasingly driven by Africans in Africa. This new collaboration in the African trade and investment space between IA and BCA creates an organisation that brings together IA’s high-level connections and BCA’s extensive network on the ground across Sub-Saharan Africa.”

Robert Hersov, founder and Chairman of IA (and its sister company, African Capital Investments), said “Teaming up with BCA makes great sense for our IA members, our sponsors, our partners and for our combined goal of bringing Africa to the world. We will rapidly expand our joint offering and now be able to do a lot more for investors in Africa and for the African economies, businesses and entrepreneurs that deserve recognition and investment. This is a first step in creating the leading platform worldwide for investment in Africa.”