Alternative Initiatives for the Development of Africa (AIDA)
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About AIDA

To develop and leverage the vast opportunities in Africa, AIDA is an independent advisory and investment boutique that brings together international traders, investors, infrastructure companies, and systems integrators, on the one side, and African governments, private developers or concessions holders, and innovation ventures, on the other hand.

There are massive available resources juxtaposed with large infrastructure needs in Africa, well documented by several reports that can be accessed in our Related Information section, in particular those by Ernst & Young.
Despite improvements in governance, economic leadership and financing, few soft skills have trickled down into the deployment of these projects in Sub-Sahara Africa. This is despite that same being well developed in the North or in emerging Asian and Latin American markets.

Of key importance are the issues of stakeholder trust and alignment, ICT integration, project management, quality assurance, internal controls, performance support, localization, and employee training. Over two decades, AIDA has systematically sought and developed partnerships with key players in these fields to ensure that the projects will enable leapfrogging solutions.

Furthermore, as China, India, South Korea and Brazil benefit from over twenty years of building their own domestic infrastructure, they have a unique technical expertise dedicated to emerging markets. As in Africa, they have been building their infrastructure to support new consumer markets and for trading of goods around their region. Those countries’ current excess capacities represent major opportunities for their top infrastructure companies to deploy their skills to international sales, and to work in Africa.

Combining its trusted traders and investors, innovative system integrators partners and large infrastructure company partners, AIDA focused on three main sectors: Construction, Transportation and Energy,  through trades, PPPs or BOTs.

AIDA’s philosophy is that business ethics and soft skills are the foundation of economic growth in Africa and reduce the risk associated with many foreign projects through local socio-economic integration from the outset. A successful social integration reduces the project risks and boosts the long-term mutual benefits of foreign businesses and local communities. AIDA’s projects support local entrepreneurs and communities around project sites to foster the development of sustainable SMME’s that bring practical solutions to operational issues.
Established in Botswana, home to SADC headquarters, and one of Africa’s leading countries for good governance, AIDA facilitates much-needed infrastructure and commercial development across the sub continent.

 

AIDA's Areas of Operations

Noteworthy Facts

  • The World Bank, the OECD, the European Union as well as Ernst & Young and McKinsey, have extensively documented the renaissance of Africa. Their reports all point to Africa as the fastest growing economic region both in infrastructure and in consumer goods. In particular,
    • according to Ernst and Young, Africa’s annual infrastructure financial gap is now well above US$130bn and available resources cover less than half of this amount; and,
    • McKinsey forecasts that African consumer spending will increase by US$645bn between 2015 and 2025.
      • BRICS & Middle East countries can use their financing capacity and technical expertise to select quality and mutually beneficial infrastructure projects.
  • AIDA benefits from the relationships of its senior management and from the knowledge of its international Board of Advisors to bring exceptional stakeholders together.
  • AIDA is headquartered in Botswana, a country with sound governance, created by the republic’s founding fathers and secured by their successors, as recognized by the prestigious Mo Ibrahim award given to President Mogae in 2009.
  • AIDA’s priority project investments are in Energy, Small-scale Mining and Farming, Smart Construction, BioTech, FinTech, Telecoms and Transport, where additional funding can leverage a number of opportunities.
  • AIDA is a member of the “Botswana Investment and Trade Centre”, securing supportive tax incentives for industrial and export activities. The company’s Academe division is a member of the “Botswana Innovation Hub”, benefitting from and contributing to the emergence of collaborative transversal initiatives.