By InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Oscar Onyema, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has reaffirmed Africa as a new investors destination.

Onyema in his keynote address at the recently held African Leadership Academy Indaba (ALA Indaba) dinner in his speech “Identifying Opportunities in Africa” said the continent  is now solidly on the radar of investors and businesses seeking to expand into new markets, with recent surveys ranking only Asia as a more attractive region for investment activity compared to Africa.

According to the NSE CEO, over the last few years, as the world’s largest economies such as the US, Europe, Japan have struggled to maintain growth following the recent economic slowdown, a large number of developing and emerging markets have risen to the fore.

“In particular, Africa has recorded an average growth rate of five percent (5%) over the past 10 years and is set to lead global economic growth in the upcoming years. Investors from around the world have mentioned Africa as “the last frontier”, with one prominent investor, George Soros, proclaiming Africa as ‘one of the few bright spots on the gloomy global economic horizon’,” he said.

Onyema said what most investors and young entrepreneurs want to know is how to effectively identify business opportunities in Africa, while assessing the opportunity cost and associated risks.

“I would like to tell you today that opportunities abound in a myriad of sectors in Africa. From financial services (where the unbanked population is about 77%), through agriculture to telecommunication technology (where emerging web based services are becoming very popular),” he said.

The NSE CEO affirmed that this positive outlook is supported by the real progress towards more stable governance structures and open political systems. “Much of the continent is now characterized by relative political stability, resulting in improved investor confidence. This is illustrated by the fact that total portfolio investment in Africa is expected to increase by 30% from the 2012 level to $26.2 billion,” Onyema said.

He further affirmed that in sub-Saharan Africa, foreign direct investment (FDI) is expected to reach $54 billion by 2015, up from $37.7 billion recorded in 2012.

“This is driven by the continent’s immense infrastructural requirements, and demonstrates the attractiveness of Africa as a unique business destination. According to the World Bank, Africa’s estimated infrastructure financing needs are $93 billion a year, which includes power and water supply needs.

In this regard, infrastructure has been responsible for more than half of Africa’s improved economic growth; and in 2012, nearly 40% of new FDI projects went into manufacturing and infrastructure-related activities,” the NSE CEO said.