Africa

Much of CGD’s work is highly relevant for Africa and the relationship between the continent and the rest of the world. For the region specifically, our focus is The Emerging Africa Project, a series of research and analytical outputs and discussions on the future of business and finance in Sub-Saharan Africa. The project is directed by senior fellow Todd Moss and draws heavily on the work of senior fellow Vijaya Ramachandran, visiting fellow John Simon, and other research staff.

The Emerging Africa Project

African countries can only transition to middle-income status and be a true player in the international economy through growth of the private sector. First and foremost, this requires unleashing Africa’s wealth of entrepreneurial energy and talent. African countries also need links to international networks and support of donors to improve the environment for investment, tap into new sources of private capital, and build the next generation of business leaders. The Emerging Africa Project is a portfolio of research, dialogues, and development policy innovations to:

Relieve the constraints on African entrepreneurs by…

• Turning new data on the current investment climate into policy change
• Enhancing donor efforts to support improvements to the business environment, including initiatives such as the Investment Climate Facility and proposals for a “Business Climate MCC”
• Developing proposals to design, finance, and maintain infrastructure assets, with a special focus on clean energy

Generate new private capital flows through…

• Analyzing the effectiveness of public sector efforts to catalyze new funds, such as OPIC and the IFC
• Finding creative ways to leverage the capital of endowments and pension funds
• Exploring the potential of private equity and other non-traditional investment vehicles in the poorest countries, including investors from India, the Middle East, and China

Respond to the global financial crisis by…

• Monitoring trends in emerging and frontier capital markets
• Analyzing policy responses to global economic conditions
• Proposing risk-buffering mechanisms, such as derivatives-based commodity price insurance

Emerging Africa Publications Highlights:

1. Africa’s Private Sector: What’s Wrong with the Business Environment and What to Do About It
2. Why Doesn't Africa Get More Equity Investment? Frontier Stock Markets, Firm Size and Asset Allocations of Global Emerging Market Funds - Working Paper 112
3. Power and Roads for Africa (Essay from The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the next U.S. President)
4. The Investment Climate Facility for Africa: Does it Deserve U.S. Support?

For More information, Contact: Peter Gardner.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Other areas of CGD’s work with particular relevance to Africa include Migration, Aid Effectiveness, Debt, and Global Health.