May 22, 2009

Africa 'must do more on business climate'

Mr Omar Issa

By The Citizen Reporter

African countries are making progress in improving their investment climates but a lot remains to be done to make the continent conducive for entrepreneurship, the head of the Investment Climate Facility for Africa has said.

Speaking this week in London, Mr Omar Issa (pictured) underlined the importance of removing existing barriers to doing business, saying that was the best means of unlocking the continent's investment potential.

He told a House of Commons event that African governments have a key role to play in thrusting the investments require to, among other things, create jobs.

The meeting, which was attended by a group of senior British parliamentarians and business leaders, was hosted by the UK�s Associate Parliamentary Group on Business, Finance and Accountancy

"By addressing the underlying issues that currently hamper enterprise and entrepreneurship � namely, practical struggles with bureaucracy, regulation, red tape and infrastructure � African governments have a key role to play in delivering greater domestic and foreign investment, with important long-term benefits for economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation," he said.

"The solutions to Africa's investment problems will be delivered on the ground by African governments. By streamlining processes, removing red tape, increasing transparency, improving infrastructure and reducing start-up costs, governments have a key role to play in enabling their countries to find their own way to economic growth and prosperity."

ICF is working in partnership with several African governments and a number of regional organisations to deliver tangible and self-sustaining improvements in a number of priority areas that are central to creating a healthy business environment.

These include property rights and contract enforcement, business registration and licensing, taxation and customs administration and infrastructure facilitation.

ICF is a public-private partnership between government and business that aims to help Africa create a more attractive business environment and realize its potential as a global player and trading partner.

The organisation believes that such improvements will support and stimulate Africa's SME sector, with important consequences for the continent's longer-term economic growth.

In a keynote speech at the London Business School's eighth annual Africa Day conference, Mr Issa argued that it was now more important than ever those African governments get the fundamentals in place. He said that is strategically important for delivering practical and self-sustaining change.

"We are not responding to any financial crisis here, we are responding to long term business issues and now is the time for African governments and the private sector to work together to address the fundamentals," he said.