Evago Global, an international emerging market investment banking group, on Tuesday, announced that 300 international investors will participate in its maiden edition of “Arise Africa Conference” in November.
The Chief Executive Officer of the group, Mr Evans Osemwegie, disclosed this when he paid courtesy visit to the Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Mr Bayo Onanuga in Abuja.
Osemwegie said that the three-day conference scheduled for Abuja in November would focus on impact investments in Africa, with particular focus on sub-saharan African nations.
He added that an impact investment model had the capacity to bring value added dimension to investment, as well as lasting and sustainable growth to Africa.
He said “the conference will bring 300 impact investors who want to invest and add value to the economy.
“Essentially, we are looking to see how we can add positive capacity into the local economy, and we want to launch and establish in Nigeria first before going into other African nations.
“The conference is looking to bring investors who want to invest in Africa but do not understand how to manage the risk and cannot identify where to invest in.
“So, investors will during the conference, get to meet some of the project managers and project owners in the country and see where to fit in.”
Osemwegie said that the company always had interest in what was happening in Nigeria and Africa, hence the drive to hold the conference to facilitate impact investment in Nigeria and other African nations.
He said part of activities at the conference would be the launch of Foreign Investors Council of Africa (FICOA).
He explained that FICOA members would consist of seasoned investment professionals in Africa.
He said “we will additionally be launching an organisation called Foreign Investors Council of Africa that will essentially look at the various constraints to investments on the continent.
“Members of the council will begin to work with international partners and governments across Africa to remove barriers to investments throughout the region.”
The managing director of NAN described Nigeria as “very fascinating country”, saying that
visitors found it difficult to leave in hurry.
Onanuga said “we are here for public service, to do what is beneficial for our country and this is a time that Nigeria needs investors and we are trying to diversify our economy.
“So, when people tell me they are bringing capital into the country, it gives me joy, because it will generate more jobs and our economy will get better: it will increase our GDP.”
He said NAN would assist and partner the group in whatever way deemed fit.
He added that “we are the only news agency that spreads its tentacles to all parts of the country.
“There is no state that we don’t have presence, so we cover Nigeria essentially, we also have some of our correspondents oversees in New York, and we partner with some news agencies like AFP, Reuters and two Russian news agencies.
“In terms of news coverage, that is what our agency is known for, we don’t just report news, we report news with video, audio services which we offer to all our clients in the country.
Onanuga urged the group to make use of the various news platforms provided by NAN to disseminate news about the conference and other activities.
“We also have NAN PR wire service which I think you will need as you prepare for your conference to offer periodic information, it can be placed on that site and people can access it, newspapers can go there and access it, and even the NAN newsroom can also access it.
“We also have what we call SMS service, a kind of a news alert.” (NAN)
