Tanzania and AIF

I was in Tanzania last week to meet with President Kikwete to discuss preparations to hold the Africa Investment Forum in Dar es Salaam. This year AIF will be a part of the East African Community Summit and will be addressed by all 5 EAC heads of Government.

Tanzania holds a particularly affection for me, it was host at the request of then President Mkapa, to CBC’s first Investors Roundtable back in 1999. This clearly demonstrated CBC’s early commitment to taking investment to countries that had never received it before, as it was also the first international investor conference ever held in Tanzania.

The AIF, always a popular event, this year comes at a time when Africa’s star is rising and the world is taking more notice than ever before. The IMF’s most recent forecasts have predicted that 7 of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world over the next 10 years will be in Africa. The potential of a Continent with 1 billion possible consumers, that has added more people to the middle classes over the last decade than any other area of the world is not to be underestimated.