and that's the whole idea here today is to get to know each other, to develop contacts and to show our mutual respect of one for another. and thank you, thank you clearly there's a lot to talk about. and there will be more opportunities to continuing our conversations, there is so much to discuss, because africa is today's biggest market opportunity in the global economy. and if you think i'm kidding, just look at the numbers, africa is expected to reach an overall 5% growth rate by 2018, it boasted six of the ten fastest growing economies. it registered more than 400,000 new companies in the last year alone. and it's middle class or consumer class is the fastest agreeing in the world. the fact is, africa is no longer emerging, it is here now. as africa begins a new stage in its journey, we in america want to walk by its side. we also realize that we have

some catching up to do. foreign investment in africa has reached record highs, but that the united states is being led more by its domestic policies and we are letting europe and china grow at a faster rate. while our exports to the continent are at a record high it is also true that only 2% of our total exports go to africa. and that means we're missing out on a major opportunity to create jobs here at home. in america there's a disconnect between the reality of the african market and the perception of the african market. and this conference is aimed at fixing that. countries and companies that ignore the african market do so at their own peril. and that will become increasingly true with each passing year. the business that i own, bloomberg lp has offices in six countries in africa, eight cities, employing more than 160 people, including more than 120

full-time and freelance journalists and we are growing there. in fact the first business trip that i took after leaving office in january was to south africa to help expand our offices both in cape town and joeberg. while i was there, we also launched a $10 million training program, to increase financial reporting on the continue -- continent and help make african markets more transparent. we worked closely with african financial institutions, private companies and central bankers to help them maximize efficiency, mitigate risk and increase capital flows. and that not only helps the local financial markets and helps attract foreign investment. my foundation has also been investing in africa for years. we didn't just start helping africa, we have been doing it for a long time, because the research is clear, that perhaps the best single investment you

can make to spur economic development is to improve public health. in zambia, for instance, we're work to stop the spread of molarria. in tanzania, senegal, uganda, we're helping to prevent maternal deaths, in 34 countries, we're fighting to reduce the deadly scourge of tobacco use, all of those efforts are saving lives and also supporting economic development because the more productive it is and the greatest potential for growth. we're also working to create jobs through training programs in rwanda and the democratic republic of congo. both presidents have been leaders in promoting sustainable farming. and to support that work we provide the resources and training to help women create

independent coffee farming businesses. more than 108,000 women have benefitted from this program so far and if you had a cup of coffee this morning you are benefitting from it too. now if you didn't get much sleep last night, have a second cup. in the decades ahead, i don't think there's any limit to the progress that africa can make. imagine for a moment, an african labor force that will surpass india's and triple the size of europe's. imagine an africa where extreme poverty as we know it is virtually eliminated where a consumer class with greater incomes has greater purchasing power, where broad band access stretches from cairo to cape town and all points in between. where climate change policies that protect africa's coastal cities and farm lands go hand in hand with economic growth, and when people from around the world want to live and work to experience africa's diverse

culture and societies. that's what africans want for their children and their children's children, and it's the africa that all of us can help bring to light. based on the incredible energy in this room i have never been more optimistic about africa's future. i know that president obama and the secretary feel the same way. the secretary deserves an enormous amount of credit for her leadership in bringing this conference together. it's now my pleasure to turn the floor over to her. secretary pritsger? [ applause ] >> thank you. good morning and welcome to all the heads of state and leaders of businesses here with us today. and thank you to michael bloomberg for your leadership and thank you to bloomberg philanthropies in your partnership in planning this conference.

i want to acknowledge my deputy chief of staff who played the lead role on behalf of the department of commerce in putting together this extraordinary event. i have known michael bloomberg for over a decade. he's been a great source of wisdom and advice to me. and i have admired the way he led new york city, the way he's run his businesses and the way he's committed himself and his organization to africa and it's people. it is always a great pleasure to work with him and as part of the largest gathering of african heads of state ever posted by an american president, we are both excited to welcome you to this historic event, bringing together a remarkable number of ceos to discuss business opportunities in africa. last year, president obama traveled to the university of

cape town to usher in a new chapter of the u.s./africa relationship. he called on students there along with leaders from the 54 distinct countries of the african union and leaders from the united states to embrace key tenants of his vision for our alliance. to advance progress in democratic institutions. to strengthen peace and prosperity. to encourage opportunity and development. and to spur economic growth, trade and investment. as america's chief commercial officer, i feel strongly that this last pillar, the u.s./africa economic relationship is fundamental to our mutual peace and prosperity. we know that businesses serve as a key bridge between our continents, but we also share the conviction that the ties of commerce can be stronger, deeper and more lasting.

when i led a trade mission to ghana last may, i heard a variation of this message from public and private sector leaders alike. the u.s./africa commercial partnership is essential. and the time to do business in africa is no longer five years away. the time to do business there is now. today, on both sides of the atlantic, there is a clear, mutual desire to deepen our ties of trade and investment because doing so will spur growth across the united states and the countries of africa. investing in africa will create jobs in charlotte, north carolina, and expand the power supply in ghana, because of the $175 million deal signed by seww energy to upgrade electricity grid.

a direct result of your recent trade mission. investing in africa will support workers in california and strengthen the health of patients in nigeria because of the mou signed by chemical corporation to construct a state of the art cancer institute. investing in africa was for job growth in cincinnati through procter & gambles $300 million investment in a new manufacturing plant. because when p&g expands in nigeria and elsewhere, it supports thousands of jobs at home. these deals demonstrate that the time is right to work together as partners in a spirit of mutual understanding and respect. to raise living standards in all of our nations and to address the challenges that impede our

ability to develop closer economic bonds. make no mistake, our economic and commercial partnership is a two-way street. goods and services, exports from the united states to african markets support roughly 250,000 jobs here at home. as africa's middle class continues to expand, we hope to see our export numbers grow, too. and through select usa, the administration is actively encouraging african companies to increase their presence here in the united states. closer economic ties and rising demand create ample opportunities for businesses in the united states and africa to build new partnerships, reach new markets and support new jobs in the years to come. with each passing day, our commercial connections are deepening. our business bonds are

increasing and our trade partnership is maturing. yet we have only just begun to scratch the surface. president obama and the department of commerce are ready to write the first pages of the new chapter of our relationship by taking our alliance to the next level. to advance the president's vision for africa, we are expanding our foreign commercial service presence. these are our economic diplomats on the ground in country that help american businesses navigate each african market. we are doubling the number of commercial offices in africa with new sites in angola, ethiopia and tanzania. we're expanding offices in ghana, kenya, libya and morocco, and we are returning a foreign commercial service presence to the african development bank for the first time in three years. the department of commerce, along with your partners at the

u.s. trade and development agency, is today announcing ten new trade missions to africa and ten reverse trade missions to the united states by 2020. our national institute of standards and technology is launching the global cities teams challenge to create teams of cities and innovators working together on issues like air quality, resource management, health care delivery and modern energy grids to utilize the best technology to build smart cities. and to promote u.s. industry engagement in africa, we have created a one-stop shop web portal. trade.gov, think doing business in africa. where american businesses can learn about african markets, find financing tools and

discover potential projects, contacts and resources. we want to make doing business in africa easier for every american company. this is the moment of opportunity. a decade from now we will look back at this moment as the start of something important. or see a missed opportunity. the choice is up to all of us gathered here today. today's agenda features conversations on financing and development, energy and infrastructure, all meant to highlight the choices before us. this historic forum will spotlight successful business models and give you a chance to explore new partnerships, new relationships with colleagues on the other side of the atlantic. this gathering marks only the beginning, a catalyst for each of us to pursue new deals and new investments as we build the

next phase of the partnership between the united states and africa. one of the highlights of my trade mission to africa this spring was visiting the melt water entrepreneurial school of technology in ghana where young innovators received the training, mentorship and guidance needed to take their ideas and turn them into vibrant businesses. these young africans want to learn how to build thriving enterprises. if they had access to capital, there would be no limit to their potential. with the speed of technology today and the global reach of the communication, these entrepreneurs can build their businesses using only a cell phone. any young person with a good idea can bring their products to

the rest of the globe. at melt water, i witnessed what the future of ghana and the entire continent of africa will look like. if we do everything we can to support young entrepreneurs and continue to build lasting partnerships. these aspiring entrepreneurs are living proof of what robert f. kennedy described nearly 50 years ago at the university of cape town, they represent ripples of hope. indeed, every entrepreneur in ghana, nigeria, angola or elsewhere who starts a business and embraces a new idea represents a ripple of hope for the prosperity of a community. every student in morocco, ethiopia or elsewhere who earns a degree and joins the work force represents a ripple of hope for the future of a family. every business owner in kenya or elsewhere who decides to reach new customers by exporting more goods represents a ripple of

growth for the growth of a country and every african leader who embraces greater transparency and market access speeds business processes and roots out corruption represents a ripple of hope for greater prosperity for their people and for ours. so, together, these ripples of hope will form a torrential current that lifts up all of us on a wave of opportunity. this is our mission today to work together to promote the future of shared prosperity. for both the united states and the nations of africa. as faith mangopae told other young african leaders and president obama just this past week and i quote -- africa is no longer a sleeping giant but is awake and open for business.

with the leadership in this room, we will keep the u.s./africa economic partnership open for more growth and success. we will keep the united states and africa open for business, your business. thank you very much. enjoy the day. [ applause ]. in august treasury secretary spoke at the u.s.-africa business summit. for about 50 minutes. >> good morning. it's a pleasure to join my colleagues and welcoming everyone to washington, d.c. we have business leaders and entrepreneurs from across africa and the united states here.

i want to thank all of you for joining us to day. i also want to thank all the people at bloomberg and the commerce department who made today's forum possible. right now africa is undergoing a swift and dramatic trance formation. africa is the second growing, fastest growing region in the world and home to six of the ten fastest growing economies. this growth reflects the hard work africans have done to lay a solid economic foundation that supports investment. the potential for ties offer tremendous opportunities for the people of our two continents. before talking more about investment in after kashgs let me say a few words about the u.s. economy. recent data dmot straight that the growing strength of the economy is continuing. we saw strong gdp growth and our economy is 6.6% larger than when

the recession began in 2007. our private sector created nearly 10 million new jobs over the past 53 months. we're now in a six month stretch with at least 200,000 new jobs each month. the first time that this has happened since 1997 chlt they --over the past 12 months job growth higher than 2006 and unemployment rate fallen 1.1 percentage point. overall u.s. companies are hiring, auto industry is thriving and housing market is fighting its way back. manufacturing is rebounding with more than 700,000 jobs added. the strongest job growth over any comparable period since the late 1990s. we produce more oil at home than we import and we are now the world's leading producer of petroleum and natural gas. with the affordable care act in place, health care costs have risen at the lowest rate in nearly 50 years. and our budget deficit has been cut by more than half. private sector economists expect

this trend to continue with strong growth and second half of the year and through the end of 2015. nonetheless, despite the substantial progress, millions of americans continue to struggle. unemployment is still too high and far too many families this does not feel like a recovery. the president put forward a number of initiatives that would accelerate growth, propel job creation and expand opportunity. these include common sense ideas like building our infrastructure for the long term and raising the minimum wage. and the treasury department, we're helping to meet the president's goal of strengthening working families whether help foster broad based prosperity and will keep taking steps so our economy can keep making strides. for example, treasury is working with the department of housing and urban development. all told, thanks to the decisions that this administration has made in the determination and resilience of

america's workers and businesses. the united states has recovered faster than most any other advanced economy in the world. and that's why according to the imf, the united states is a primary driver of global growth. and this is good news beyond our borders, especially in africa, because expanding global economy provides opportunities for african companies and it gives investors aren't world confidence to look at new markets including africa. of course, with a young, dynamic population and a virgining private sector, africa is a vital market for foreign investors. that's why we're here today. we want to drive more u.s. investment in africa, increase trade between africa and the united states and spur job creation both here and in africa. in a few moments, you'll hear from a panel of experts about different approaches we can take to deepen the financial services sector, improve investor confidence and unlock access to

capital markets. the fact is to expand growth and attract greater investment, they need to develop more open, secure, and competitive capital markets that can provide access to financialing for government's businesses and families. because of strong macroeconomic fundamentals and reforms african companies are expanding access to international capital markets. they attracted $50 billion in capital inflows and to retain and build on the success, africa needs to pursue further economic and governance reforms while building a more welcoming and predictable investment climate. as president obama said, governments more open and transparent, respect citizen rights and abide by the rule of law grow faster and draw more investments than those who don't. the challenge is head to to build robust, secure and

transparent capital markets in financial sectors. as everyone here knows, financing is critical to building africa's infrastructure to fueling the next wave of entrepreneurs and to improving the standard of living for families across the continent. the point is open capital markets are vital to channeling savings and investment and provide safe opportunities for african investments in africa. with the rapid growth in innovation we must also bear in mind the need to protect our financial system from terrorists, money launderers, corrupt officials and other criminals. we look forward to continued and growing cooperation in this important work to promote both economic and national security. i'm pleased that african development bank president is with us for this session. the united states is working closely with the african development bank to attract private investment as part of president obama's power africa initiative which will bring

reliable electricity to 20 million families and businesses. to meet this goal, we need strong capital markets that attract long term investors. in closing, let me say that united states and our partners want our relationship with africa to be defined by our shared economic interests. to play a part in africa's success, we must invest in roads, bridges and power lines. we must provide training and support for young entrepreneurs. and we must improve access to capital for small businesses and manufacturers. by strengthening our economic ties with africa, we can fuel growth, alleviate poverty, and foster stability. and now i want to turn the session over to the president for what i know will be a valuable discussion. thank you all very much. [ applause ] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage, chairman as holdings limited mr. tony o. olimali.

president and chief executive officer mastercard. chief executive officer and managing director equity bank group. founder and chairman foundation and founder. joint chief executive standard bank, mr. sim chabalala. co-founder and co-chief executive officer mr. david rubenstein. and our moderator, president, african development bank, dr. donald kabarukah. >> good morning.

i want to thank secretary of state for the kind words and for welcoming us here. we have the easiest subject which is finance. of course. i do have good panel of men here. and today we'll just talk about what does it take to get more financial flows into the african continent? pension funds todays ago here saying money is not the issue. the issue is what invest the money. and this morning everyone says africa is the place to be. so i wouldn't to begin with you. i recall meeting you in my office when you are lunching in africa. you and i had a conversation. you said to me, look, begin with

south africa and nigeria. then i say how has it gone for you? well, first i want to thank you for your support. i was in your office, you know, i was starting to raise our fund. it was not easy to convince people to give money to a firm like ours to invest in africa. we didn't have a real track record there. when you try to raise a country fund or continent fund, people outside the continent say if you're so good, how come nobody in the continent will give you money? you always want to get money initially from people there and the african development bank. my industry is called private equity. it is the fastest growing service. it went from $3 billion under management to $3.5 trillion. that's around the world. relatively speaking africa was not a major part of that explosion. even today of all the money

invested in the world, about 1% of the money invested in private equity is invested in africa. so the appeal of africa to us is aside from the fact that we all know high growth rates, young demographics, governments that don't have big debts largely as compared to the west and lots of other good features in terms of the middle class growth. but there is a small figure in terms of penetration rates. we often measure the penetration rate of private equity and how much else is being done there. typically we like to go where there isn't a large penetration rate. that means there isn't that much competition. i don't like to talk about markets we're going into. i don't want my competitors to come into those markets. i want them to get there before they get there. there is a difference in africa. in africa, you need to have a private equity infrastructure. you need to have other firms doing this. you have to convince the sellers of assets, finance years of assets, the people in the

financial service industry that this is a worth while undertaking. that's what is going on now in terms of our efforts, other firms efforts as well. we think the industry will take off in africa and we think the growth rate in private africa will be greater than it will be in any other part of the world. it's not easy to get control of assets. it's not easy to make the changes we want. but ut ultimately, what we try to do is make companies more efficient. that's our mission is to make companies for productive, get a good return for investors like the african development bank eastern all the others that invested with us. in the end, it's a mission to make companies more efficient and to make economies more efficient. that's what private account is really about. >> on that question, so for american investors in this room

who may be wondering, africa is risky. you have other things. you have been there now for six, seven years. what do you say to them? >> well, any emerging market by definition is going to be somewhat riskier that the united states. but the theory is that if you take greater risks in business you're likely to get greater rewards. the reason that we and other firms are investing in emerging markets so-called is because the higher growth rates, the lower penetration rate of private equity and opportunities to get younger companies and have them grow. yes, there are risks in africa. there are risks in all merging markets. there are risks in the united states as well. often the risks in the united states can be considerable, also. i don't want to make it sound like africa there is no risk and we're not worried about them. we're very cautious. we think the opportunities there are far greater than people thought years ago. and the great explosion in private equity, if it's going to occur anywhere around the world is going to be in africa,

particularly subsaharen africa. the penetration rate is about one 12th or so what it is in the united states. >> thank you so much. >> you come from africa's largest economy. you lead one of africa's largest banks which operates around the country. yesterday i was speaking to a large investor about your country. and he has issues. i disagreed with him. he does issues nonetheless. you want you to speak to that particular investor. and give him or her a short answer. that is things going the right direction. but number two, i want you to share us with your experience investing outside your own country, in african countries. >> sure, i say to the investors, let's look at the character of the country. as you say to anybody borrowing money if from us. look at the constitution.

it's one of the best constitutions in the world. it's got one of the most sophisticated bill of rights. and so in that constitution that first, second and third generation rights when are respected in that country. i say secondly, look at the rule of law. it is a country which respects rule of law. look at property rights. the property rights are well entrenched and well respected. i say look at the democratic structures and democratic processes. they've been orderly lections since the advent of democracy. strong organs of civil society. there is a strong judiciary and there is a very strong and independent central bank. so the character of this borrower is great. i would say yes there are issues. there are service delivery protests. there are strikes. but those are illustrative of a healthy democracy and also illustrative of a healthy competition.

and so this borrow of yours will have the willingness to pay you. i'd say they also have the ability to pay you. look at their financial management. they're debt to gdp ratio is low. they collect their funds so they have the cash flows to repay you and obligations. look at their balance sheets and they are strong. this is a borrower with impeccable credentials. >> as you extended to be on the border further north, we were talking about integration and things are not working the way they should. what you have learned? what can be done differently? >> the standard bank existed under the same name since october 1862. it is represented in 20 countries on the african continent.

it is the largest financial institution on the african continent by market capitalization and by assets. it employs over 42,000 people throughout the continent. we learned a lot. we learned a lot by doing, i'd say you find varying degrees of financial population. most jurisdictionses have banking as a form of mediation. they savers safe and borrowers borrow through the banking system. increasingly there is more pension fund reforms. as a consequence, you've seen increasing deepening of capital markets mptd there are more stock exchanges that are rising. bonds are issues. ken why just the other day raised very innovative europeeo which shows you the deepening of the financial system.

i'd say from a banker's perspective there is a great deal of competition. you've got domestic banks. you have regional banks, my friend tony was a fierce competitor of as you at uva. they have a regional strategy and they're a nuisance wherever we find them. fiercely competitive. and lastly, i would say increasing discipline in regulation, increasing supervision and better supervision. and that is actually been reflected in the risk premiums that are attributable to the countries where we operate. >> thank you so much. >> now let's clarify. you're not here as an activist. you're here as a businessman. >> some ask the question, is a bern person? a pioneer in the telecommunications industry. you went where others feared to go. and i made a lot of money in the process. good for you. tell investors here what is your secret?

if you want to live in secrets, what has to be done to ensure that success in the telecom industry is power and good business and infrastructure. what will it take? >> i promise to be well mannered and behaved. >> i think, of course, to start with, you really need to do your home work. like any investment anywhere. you need to do your home work. really before you go in. secondly, what helped us is we designed cell 10. we keep talking about integration of africa. and unfortunately, it's slow. it is very important to really

cross the borders. i mean we had free roaming. something they're still fighting to achieve. it was 15 years ago. we have one structure, one team of engineers design us. one plan, et cetera. that helped us a lot in trying to do. but the issue here is we really need to accelerate region economic integration. one think i keep repeating, we have more reforms in africa than in here in united states. we have more funds than you guys. we have 550 more bag phones in -- mobile phones in africa, more than europe. but we don't make one mobile phone. i think this is a major issue.

so i think a few things need to be done. i have a few suggestions. >> go ahead. >> yeah? i'll try to be very quick. we need to continue to improve governments in africa which is already improving according to data published. available you to free of charge if you want. one thing i think will help investment if we have a then african stock exchange. before any investor goes into any country he is looking for the exit door. we have only six or seven liquid exchanges in africa. that doesn't work. we need to have regional exchanges or ban it. it's not difficult. it's simple and easy. existing exchanges could be shareholders at that exchange.

we need to work together. simple things. i think also i have a word for you, it's business. it's not a one way conversation. i has to be a two-way conversation. i think you need to address the gap between perception and reality. we grew up if in a diet of movies, et cetera. our perception is far from reality about africa. four or five african countries dominated the news. problems in this country. we're 54 countries. second one that i mentioned, the rule of law. rule of law of africa is not bad. not only business, i shoot three local governments and i won every case. i challenge any businessman here to sue china in a chinese court.

the rule of law of africa is better than many countries. [ applause ] >> yes. now you, american business people, ask for good governance. rule of law, transparency, lack of corruption, et cetera. i can precisely ask you for this hymn? just strictly business, you're welcome. can you please also pay your taxes? because this is a major problem. this say huge problem in africa. you have better lawyers. you have better financial advisors. you can throw rings around our officials in africa.

but please, don't do that in the sake of accuracy. also your long term perspective in africa. if you want to succeed long time, you have to do clean business. otherwise, it comes on the backside. you know that. >> one thing i really want to say also about the american government, the american government is wonderful in leading the fight. again, it's corruption. and a great fact of -- [ inaudible ] and to act against corruption. that is wonderful. but i'm very surprised that when the uk is pushing now for transparency and ownership of companies and trusts, the u.s.

seems to be hesitant. please don't worry. continue to fight. we don't understand why anybody need to have enormous conversation. why are you doing that? you have that backbone. please, continue to show that backbone. so please support that initiative. and we also don't understand the frank dod transparency, et cetera. again, we don't understand why you measure oil companies and using the courts to undermine that. why do your big oil companies get transparency? where are the board members? where is your corporate governance? we're really asking this question. so please behave. and, of course, you have this

discussion here in russian about the exit bank. please have your discussion. but don't throw the baby with the bath water. that's not smart. thank you. >> thank you. mo, we have limited time. i want you to really talk about the issues of tax and transparency. because the last g-8 summit put on the table issues of the other companies. because of complex management models. i hope your colleagues can come to this later. you have been successful in mobile banking. this was known for. but even more. bringing more people into the banking world and by expanding the middle classes. can you tell us more on this? >> thank you very much. the mobile banking concept is

more of a delivery channel for financial services. essentially what we is the fastness of the continent made brick and mortar a challenge to operationalized banking. the second thing was the question of income brackets at the bottom of the period. again, affordability was a major issue and cost of access was another issue. we thought we could take financial services to the last mile using telecalm infrastructure. we utilized the capability of the bottom of the pyramid having phones across the continent. the second aspect was the issue of low percentage of the

population being banned. whene looked at when we were starting only 4% of the population was banked and for us that was a market figure. how could we limit the market figure when 86% of the population is excluded by the market. essentially the barriers that existed to low income getting financial access. financial access for low income is essential to integrate them into economic transformation. if they are excluded the gains don't trickle down to the segment of the population. basically what we did was make financial services more affordable. we used the technology to reduce the costs of access and then remove most of the barriers that had to do with the regulation by going for smarter regulation.

when you ask the population not connected to give utility bills it becomes a huge barrier for them. we have been working with the central bank in the region that we operate. we went to smart regulation requirements particularly on new customer. essentially that has helped 42% of the population now having access to banking services. so telecom reduced costs and took financial services to the last mile. this required a lot of innovations in products so that the products are appropriate for that segment of the population and pricing, too, had to be right. and the size of the transaction had to be made to be appropriate for the transaction requirement of the population. >> thank you.

thank you so much. during the financial crisis, banks in the rich countries had problems. i was told the african banking sector was expected to follow. what do you say to individuals in terms of the regulation of afghan banking sector? >> thank you very much. what happened in 2007, 2008, 2009 in the market the first thing we observed was the strength of the framework on the african continent. we saw central banks being able to manage the tuition, the impact and the trading effects fairly well. it is the banks, the individual banks that continue to perform

well. if the overlapped period the market cap has gone up 4.5 times. again, the strength of one regulation and the individual banks. when you looked at the quality of portfolio although we have the trading effects of the financial crisis hitting the continent and the idea, the spike was minimal. we have seen another two years we have been able to provide that impact showing appropriate in the financial sector, structure and being appropriate and the strength of the management teams that are managing african banks. >> very good. strong regulation, good supervision and effective resolution mechanisms.

very good. you have experience with mastercard and before citi bank. people think of africa as an exception. i want you to tell me from your days in asia are the problems in myanmar, sclri lanka so differe? >> i believe africa is at the stage asia was 15 years ago where a number of companies many of whom are in this room viewed asia as a real opportunity to plant flags and grow aggressively. i think africa is at that stage. as jeff said in the morning those of us who go local and who can plant ourselves properly with the right investment and the right quality of people locally and the right technology transfer we can learn a lot in africa. the risk attributes of african countries are talked about a

great deal. if you go there and travel as we have done and you look at the opportunities there you can find ways to draw those risks in a way that is of most of our companies. we give you an example. when we go with mastercard, we go to a bank in africa. we need to take from them my two partners, we need to take from them a certain level of guarantee around our collateral. typically, if you went to small banks and the underwriting hundreds of thome, they can't do that well. they're now going to partner with institutions like the ifc, with kim jong helping us to find a way they could do the underwriting and provide a level of guarantee to uswise accept as cl collateral. it's true what can you do with all kinds of risks in this space. that's how i view it.

>> you and i were speaking a few minutes ago. we were talking about, okay, but we need to include this other middle class. we need to include purchasing power. you're quite knowledgeable of this. >> goes a little bit to what james is saying. i believe if you just make -- look, the rich will get richer at a point in time of economic growth. there's nothing wrong with that if that capital is reinvested in the right places. if you drive consumption-led growth, which africa will need at a point of time now, that consumption-led growth will only come by expanding the middle class and by getting people at the lower end of society to participate in their growth. that will not happen without financial inclusion. if you're left out and all you can do is operate with cash, if you can't pay a bill easily, if you can't borrow money easily f you basically can't save money easily, you cannot be a part of what the economy is capable of doing and delivering.

that's what financial inclusion is about. it's not only about doing well. it's about doing well and doing good at the same time, for most companies who again fbenefit fr. i believe cash is a hugely expensive medium of exchange. it was created hundreds of years ago and has no reason to exist in today's modern economy. cash cost between 1.5 gdp. printed, secured, distributed and my colleagues in the bank to pick it up with trucks that have two people in an armored truck. if you are one person in the truck, cash disappears. you need people to check it. and then all the tax evasion. you can't evade taxes without a large proportion of cash in the economy. you can't have a great deal of cross-border activity without cash. if your kids go to school in this country, there are drugs on

campus. they don't come from a citi card payment. i think you have to think through the role of cash and the transparency that comes from electronic payments and then attach that to the idea of financial inclusion and then you get as partners, which use our technology and innovation with them to make a difference to work we can actually do to help transform transparency and reduce the role of cash, reduce corruption. >> thank you very much. >> a lot of reforms have been done but a lot of business people want to invest in the sector as they did in the telecom sector. i see more reforms are needed to provide that business confidence, to provide that

clarity that can put the capital there and long-term investments. 20, 25. for those investment to come. >> so, last year when president obama visited africa, our group committed $2.5 billion toward the pro-africa initiative. we have been able to deploy part of that because of what i'm going to share here with you with implement of this across africa. one is that in the country we decided to start from, nigeria, nigerian government has massive reform and that gives us the opportunity to acquire a major power asset.

when we require the asset, november last year, november 1 last year. the output was 100 million mega watt of electricity. so, in just about six, seven months, we have tripled the output. this is what the private sector can do. so, learning from this, african governments, and i'm happy we have quite a number of african political leaders here, we have a role to play in helping to reform. if we commit $1.5 billion without the opportunity to invest it, we voent hawouldn't invested it. one of our partners is here.

we co-invested together in one of his plants. the second thing is the issue of policies. our political leadership and executive programs need to understand power investment is a long-term investment. you don't want to start the process as an investor and one year, two year down the line the policies change. so, if we want to drive power, increase in access to electricity throughout the continent, we need to make sure we think through carefully our political -- our policies, and once we put in place those policies we should just have to see them through so that the rational investors can plan rationally and no surprises. the third thing is the issue of regionalization or harmonization of power policies across the

continent. if we can do that continent, less amount of blocs or groupings. harmonized policy so they can move from nigeria to canada and invest and give or take certain issues you can't predict the way this policy, the political environment will pay out. because we need to invest in countries and cross borders to help improve africa. the fourth point, it takes so long to get approval. we succeeded in africa, nigeria, where we started from because of the reform that was put in place. so, we need to ensure that you talk to many people. foreign investors, in particular, they want to invest in power. it takes so long so close transactionses on the continent so we need to make sure we fast

track this. you understand that the state and state of the power sector development of africa is still in infancy. so, the regulatory mind set in africa, must be different from the regulatory mind set you want in the world where assets to electricity has significantly improved. we must see ourselves as developmental regulators on the african continent if we must succeed across africa. lastly, our governments need to help. we need to realize incentiveship behavior. so if we tax on tax, the right tax incentives, as we have where we do business in nigeria.

so that encouraging you to invest more in such economy. so, that will help. let me say before i close, finance is key also. power, investment and long-term investment. so, the kind of money you need in power is long-term investment. not just shut down facilities. there are certain agencies, institutions. the world bank probably most of the initiatives, also on the continent. we need to also have the american senate and house pass the harmonize -- the electrify africa bill improving access to electricity in africa. finally, again to our political leadership and the economy on the continent, we need to

encourage domestic savings. so, we need to encourage it, one. two, we need to -- when we mobilize savings we channel them to the critical areas of need, especially electric power. if you go to some countries that have trillions of money already mobilized from the funds, but those funds just funding government treasury bills. it's not really help to drive the infrastructure deficiency improvement we need in africa. so, we need to look at it as mobilizing savings. the end is how you deploy capital to grow what we need for the african economy. and i think a lot more can be said but i know there are time constraints. >> thank you. paul is in the room. my time keeper says four minutes but, paul, we have a sense that

predictability, that clarity in terms of the segments is now so stable that we can see more investment flows in the power sector in africa. paul, i saw you here, no? yes, yes. >> thank you. thank you, tony, for the nice words. i think right now the power purchase agreements and the agreements in general that nigeria set out are really good. >> you talk about all african countries. >> no, i'll start with nigeria. >> in terms of -- talk generally. >> because, nigeria, i think, has set the standard, quite frankly. the problem is across all the other countries, you don't see standardization. and every time you go to make a deal, an ipp deal, you have to

start out from scratch and you spend months and months and months negotiating the different ppas. so, in some country every single project has its own -- different ppa. it's not well organized at all. i personally think if some of the other african countries took the work that's been invested into nigeria, things would be a lot better and it would be easier to work. you give me the floor, i would like to respond to tony is, i think not only is it important that american countries partner with african companies. our partnership, i think, has been a fantastic example. it's worked really, really well. and as we've invested in the power plant, we're now producing 450 megawatts. i think it's essential. i think you've just got to find the right partners in africa. and there are many more people

like tony elumelu and james mwangi out there, so first of all, i would say concentrate on finding the right local partner. >> thank you. we have 1:30, so i'm told. on to a check from the audience, any question you like for these distinguished gentlemen? if there's anybody. i see none. therefore, i go back to my panel. ask each one of you if you have the last word. david. >> two things. first, i would say that america is probably behind other parts of the world in investing in africa. there may be historic or other reasons why american companies have not moved to africa with like chinese companies have, but i don't think it's too late to

catch up. i think the american companies need to spend more time looking at the opportunities in africa. private equity is only one small sliver of what we can do. secondly, this is is a very good summit, unusual summit. but as i've been to many summits and business meetings and conferences, the trick is always the follow-up. it's not the great meetings. it's the follow-up. so, i hope there is a mechanism to follow up this conference and i assume the bloomberg philanthropies and u.s. commerce departments and others will find a mechanism to make sure this doesn't happen just once but happens frequently. and also those of us who meet for the first time here use other mechanisms to make sure we stay in touch. that's the best way to make sure this conference is going to be useful. >> david, that's a good point. follow-up, sim. >> two points. the power africa, trade after sxa in particular agora. we hope agora will be extended for 15 years. in addition to that, africa and

south africa are open for partnership. >> good point. >> welcome to africa. and i wish you to make a lot of money there. and just behave yourselves. that's all. >> thank you. >> james. >> thank you. i think over the last 20 years africa has gone through very substantial reforms. whether it's economic, political, legal, economic reforms. and it is important that why we may appreciate what the media talks about africa, to look and get where africa is using its markets, the success, for instance, of kenya raising 2 billion u.s. dollars on a euro bond speaks a lot about what is happening in africa and east africa specifically. what is happening in nigeria,

nairobi, south africa, again, tells the whole story, because markets are never wrong. >> very good point, indeed. ajaypal. >> all the work is you need public/private partnerships. there's an african proceed verb that says, if you want to go quickly, go alone. if you want to go far, go together. we need that internalized otherwise you won't go far without those partnerships. >> thank you very much. tony? >> very quick one. one is a call on those who come to washington. as we go back, we hear about electrify africa bill to pass. two is the -- what we talked about this morning, your perception. i like to urge the american public to open their minds a bit more and see africa out of the

prism and africa 10, 20 years ago. lastly, as we talk about partnership with u.s. and the rest of the world, we cannot ignore a key component of our society. we may represent about 50% of the african population. and true inclusive growth cannot call -- thank you. >> thank you so much, tony. now, let me take half a minute to summarize. i begin with a great point made by mr. mwangi. too often here in the u.s. and europe, you look at television, bad news, boko haram, activity here, but look at the performance of the nairobi stock exchange. look at the performance of the stock exchange. markets never lie.

bear that in mind each time you look at that news. second, when david was going to africa, he came to the book and says, look, you know africa more than i do. can we invest together? so for those of you who still may be having similar information, move into east or other african countries, you still have doubt, come to us. we know our continent. we're prepared to go there with you and make the challenges and opportunities together. so, please thank you in joining me this panel and thank you for the audience. c-span's 2014 campaign continues with cory booker and republican jeff bell. it's the first and possibly only debate between the candidates after recenting listed the race a solid democrat. you can watch it at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span. and on wednesday more campaign coverage with the

louisiana senate debate between incumbent democrat mary landrieu and republican congressman bill cassidy and gop challenger, retired colonel rob manass. louisiana has an open primary system where candidates run against each other with majority winning the election. if a candidate fails to get 50% of the vote, a run-off will take place. you can watch wednesday's debate live at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span. can you post your comments on facebook and twitter. right after, that a main senate debate between incumbent republican susan collins and shanna bellows at 9 p.m. eastern also on c-span. with live coverage of the u.s. house on c-span and the senate on c-span2, here on c-span3 we complement that coverage by showing you the most relevant congressional hearing and public affairs events. on weekend spab3 is the home to american history tv with programs that tell our nation's

story, including six unique series. the civil war's 150th anniversary, visiting battlefields and key events. american artifacts touring museums to discover what artifacts reveal about america's past. history bookshelf, the best known american history writers. the presidency, looking at policies and legacy of our nation's commander in chief. lectures in history with top college professors delving into america's past. our new series, real america, featuring archival films from the 1970s. funded by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us in hd, "like" us on facebook and follow us on twitter. the national speaker is susan rice. they talked about infrastructure and education in africa. she was joined by executives from ibm, coca-cola and other companies. this is 50 minutes.

good morning excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. i would like to begin by thanking the department of commerce and secretary penny pritzker. i would like to thank the bloomberg foundation and michael bloomberg for organizing this important discussion on powering africa. as we've heard again and again, africa has two decades of very strong economic. but the encouraging growth story will only continue if the continent tackles its problem of infrastructure. now our studies show that poor state of infrastructure in subsaharan after, including electricity, water, roads and

ict, cuts countries' economic growth by two percentage points every year. and it reduces business productivity by as much as 40%. these losses take an enormous human toll in addition to taking a toll on economic growth. we've heard a lot about the infrastructure gap, about $100 billion a year that's needed. less than half of that is supplied by the government. we have also heard that of the 800 million people in subsa heroin africa, there is a deficit of about 100 gigawatts. with africans, 10 million enterprises don't have access to energy despite enormous potential for hydroelectric power, for geothermal, wind and so you lar power. the 5.5% growth in africa has

been done without power just to give you a very specific example. i was recently in burkina faso and their president told me that they had been growing, and we knew this, they had been growing at about 6% per year. and the cost of energy was 75 cents a kill kilowatt hour. here in washington, d.c. we pay about 10, 11 cents per kilowatt per hour. what do we want to do? we think the niche five will play an important goal of providing electricity for africa so today i'm very pleased to announce that the world bank group following president obama's lead will support power africa by committing $5 billion in direct financing, investment guarantees, in advisory services for project preparation

in power africa's six initial partner countries. that's ethiopia, ghana, kenya, liberia, nigeria and tanzania. the u.s. government and the world bank group are working now on specific tasks and milestones for projects that if implemented would achieve one-quarter of power africa's goal of generating 10,000 mega watts of new power in subsa heroin africa. while our financial and technical support will hope move the projects forward what we know is that we need much, much more funding. now, the world bank is a 70-year-old institution. we just had our 70th birthday in july. we have done wonderful work in many african countries. but we knew and i knew as soon after i arrived at the world bank group that we were not structured in a way to have the kind of impact that we knew we could have in tackling problems like power in subsaharan africa. so, we rearranged everything.

we changed just about everything at the world bank group. we increased our financial capacity. we're now able to provide a state-of-the-art solutions, not just data and analysis, but solutions from all over the world. we are now a global knowledge organization as opposed to a regional or country-based knowledge base in the past. but we have to step up. i think you heard on a previous panel, jeff imle said very clearly what we need are very straightforward things. so, we will step forward and much more aggressively provide the kind of risk capital that will be needed to get projects moving. secondly, we will use our 70 years of experience to take the lead on project preparation of what we know are many, many bankable projects in africa. you know, for me, having now had the chance to travel many times

to africa, and specifically as the world group bank president, i can't help but think of my own life which started in 1959 in south korea. i was born in a country that recently had gone through a war. it was one of the poorest countries in the world with a gdp per capita at that time that was lower than ghana's. the economist at the world bank stated that korea was a basket case. too confusion confucian, too egarian so do anything. we have heard those same kind of pronouncements about africa too many times. i think back just to 2000 when a small group of us began point pointing to the problem of hiv in africa, and we made the point that this is a problem that we can solve. this is a problem we can tackle. there were naysayers everywhere. it's impossible to treat hiv in africa.

africa will have to wait for the next generation. but through the effort of people like george w. bush, who launched the initiative and many members of congress here today who supported it, 10 million people in africa are on treatment and the treatment outcomes and the compliance is higher than in many cities in the united states. we should never ever doubt the potential of africa. not only to solve its problems but to grow in a way that will boost up the entire world. it was a developing country during 2008 to 2013. but accounted for more than half of global growth. we at the world bank group believe in africa. the next five panelists have all done things that show they, too, believe in africa. for the private sector representatives here today, i would just invite you, just as donald kaberuka just did, get know us, get to know us at the world bank group. we do credit risk, credit enhancement.

we have direct equity investments. we have a private equity investment that will invest with you in africa. the opportunities are enormous. just imagine in the investment in electricity in bur kina fas toe that will not only provide you with very strong returns, but will reduce the price and increase the access to electricity for the people of bur k ber kina faso. we know we can do it. together with all of you, we look forward to the next meeting of the united states government and african leaders when we can talk about the great things that we have accomplished for our companies and on behalf of the people of africa. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage, founder and chairman of econet strive

masiyiwa, chairman chief executive offer, chair, ceo co-founder of blackstone, stephen schwartzman, ceo and co-founder general partners mr. tshepo mahloele. kei and ceo and chair of coca-cola company, muhtar kent and national security adviser, the honorable, susan price. >> hello, everybody. thank you so much for joining us. i want to join my colleagues in thanking the organizers of this event, in particular the department of commerce and secretary penny pritzker and bloomberg philanthropies, and in particular mike bloomberg for

their extraordinary vision and collaboration to make this occasion as impactful as it is. i'm honored to be joined by such a distinguished panel to discuss africa's infrastructure, potential and africa's infrastructure challenges. but before i do, i want to just ask you all to join me in thanking again jim kim and the world bank group for a really extraordinary announcement that he just made on behalf of the world bank for power africa, the president's signature initiative to double access to power to africa. and the commitment of $5 billion from the world bank group is an enormous contribution for which we are very grateful. i know president obama is personally very grateful. so, please, join me in thanking him. so broadly speaking in the context of this panel, we want to explore the nature of

africa's infrastructure needs, the challenges that we face in terms of trying to enhance both the energy infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, information, communications and technology infrastructure. and this panel is incredibly well suited to do so. we have ceos, we have investors, we have those that have specialized in every aspect of the infrastructure challenge. and what i'd like to do, most of all, is invite you all to share in particular the challenges that you see in terms of bringing greater infrastructure to africa so that africa's development is facilitated and supported wherein particular you see the opportunity for policy to play a role in strengthening africa's access and opportunities in the infrastructure realm. and where you see the risk.

and i know each of you are well-suited to elaborate from your own perspective on that. steve, i wanted to start with you. you have a global base of inv t investo investors. you have become very involved in africa of late. and i really wanted to ask your perspective of where do you see the greatest challenge to improving and enhancing infrastructure in africa? what role can the private sector best play? what role can africa's governments and partners play to increase the quality and quantity of infrastructure? >> i think the people on the first panel actually did a pretty good job at laying this out. whether it was jeff imimelt or someone else. that we've been doing infrastructure for a while in africa. we completed building a damn in uganda and it comprises now 40% of the electricity.

lowered the price by about a third and increased the gdp by about 60%. so the power of power is really very substantial. and from the perspective of africa where 70% of the people don't have electricity, and for a lot of people in this audience, they understand that for people with normally be in the developed world, it is incomprehensible and the continent is still growing at 5%. so if you imagined, the $300 billion necessary to really electrify sub sahara and africa, if it is a huge number and it would make a huge difference, so

i think any time you have 5% growth anywhere in the world, you're going to attract private capital unless you try and stop it. and the supply chain is about policy, it is about continuity in terms of policy over time because these projects aren't necessarily done within the life span of one administration and if you invest the time, and somebody else decides it doesn't want it, you know, that is a risk. you also have the issues of rule of law. which is something that as investors, all of those need. if you don't have rule of law or security, that you do you can't risk capital.

and so there are a variety things that governments can do which frankly are not difficult. you just need the will do them. the support for new projects. and the probability that you get a significant uptake in your economic growth, the ability to increase employment, increase gdp per capita is quite high. >> if you could, steve, elaborate a bit, obviously long-term development and sticking those policy says critically important, but which kinds of steps can governments best take in africa that would lay the right policy foundation once it was long-term, adhered to over the long-term. do you see these policies being nationally driven or are they regional efforts that could be taken that would be particularly useful within some regions,

whether east african community -- >> i think regional things are much more difficult than national things. as we look at our own country, or otherwise, it is hard for people to get together and agree. it is tough enough in one country. so i like do easy things. i find they are hard enough. and a country has to figure out what it wants to do. what kind of price is it prepared to guarantee you a spread over your supply. what is the supply. is it plentiful? will someone make sure that happens? there are all kinds of things you can do to make a project easier. and it would be really useful if there was a panned continental template of what people should do, the g20 for example, as you

probably know, is thinking about that type of approach for a variety of different infrastructures so that people who do things are going to look at same type of criteria. countries will know what is the preferred outcome on those criteria so you don't have to have the same negotiation over and over and over. so that's part of the global agenda and i think it would work really well for africa. if you had regional groups, and you know, like western south america, which looks like it is going to work pretty well, that would be great. there are so many countries in africa that it can't be an easy thing to harmonize everyone's policy. if you could, even better.

but it is a tough objective. >> thank you. >> if i might, i'd like to go stride next. your perspective, clearly looking at the industry you've been most active in, communications and information technology, and give us a sense of how the opportunities there are evolving in africa and a sense of this question of whether you see the potential for regional collaboration and regional policies that can spur greater investments in infrastructure. thank you. thank you, susan. this conference is a great vision realized for us. thank you for organizing it and starting this new chapter. you know, i have been active in building infrastructure all my

career, 30 years. i've built bridges. i've built roads. and i've been involved in the telecommunication sector since the private sector was first allowed in. back in the early '90s. and during period, i have invested in and built telecommunications infrastructure in some 17 african countries. whether the south or east or north, french speaking, portuguese speaking, we have been there and we have people in all of those countries. if you had asked us in 1994, when telecommunicationd penetration, the percentage after population, who had a telephone was .07% on the african continent, were it to be conceivable that 70% of the

african people could have a phone in their hand, we've been committed to an institution, the cost at that time would have been greater than the gdp of the continent. in the eyes of many people. today the private sector has invested more than $100 billion so that 650 million africans now have a cell phone. in fact, for those of us who are entrepreneurs in this sector, the communications component of this revolution is behind us. yes, people are still building towers, but we've moved on. we're now into the digital connectivity. how do we build the digital infrastructure? for instance, our company has been laying fiber. we have laid fiber now in 15 african countries.

we have a fiber system that began in durban, building along the side of the road. and if you know your continent, as you know, susan, we have -- we followed the road, went up north, across the river then into zimbabwe, crossed the zambia, digging alongside the road, 5,000 men. and we're now on the border of somalia. if it wasn't for al shabab, we'd be in mogadishu. so, we are building infrastructure in those countries. today our focus is ensuring that these networks can now create an overlay where we can provide education, health. we can provide agriculture extension services to women farmers. this is the future creating

digital jobs for young people so that we can employ the young africans as well as providing health support and other things that it is as much as infrastructure today as it is to build the physical inf infrastructure that we are building. perhaps i'll stop there. i would ask you to elaborate. have you been a huge proponent in the investor in africa's human capital, and particularly its young people. and you've also been a great supporter of the young african leaders initiative, which president was proud to host last week during an extraordinary summit of our washington fellows. but your perspective as someone so deeply involved in the digital sphere as to how we can use both partnership between the

united states and africa and investment to promote skills development and skills transfer, which is a huge underlying objective of our partnership with africa and where the united states very much wants to take it. we want africans, particularly the up and coming generationings, to be extraordinarily competitive internationally and have the access to the skills and the education they need. how do you see the role of the private sector in particular information communications technology in trying to support that? >> thank you. you know, we look at schools and we look at the brick and mortar. again if we had to go out and build schools, we haven't got the resources today. we have to look beyond brick and mortar. brick and mortar schools are an intention. we can use the technology we have today to provide education to chirp. the tools are already with us.

we talked earlier and by will talk more about that, but the most important thing for us today that we've got is to educate, is to invest in our young people. at an earlier time said, 60% of africa's population is between the age of 15 and 25. we haven't got time to wait. so we have to use this infrastructure that we have. i don't need to get children into school, 50% of the globals -- the world's children are not in school. are in africa. once we've got them in school we have to deliver the quality education that will help industry, employment, but even

then, it is not enough. we have to look at making them entrepreneurs to create the next generation of industry. this is where i think president obama's initiative is to powerful. but it is also important that we have young americans heading the other way. as i have been saying on our part and a commitment we have made, which i'm happy to announce here, we're happy to receive 20 young americans every year coming the other way that will come and work in corporate africa so that when they return to work for goldman sachs and other industries, we will have an alumni of business people for the next generation of mutar kent. thank you. >> coca-cola for many years has been a pioneering investor in africa. and you have developed enormous networks of partners created vast numbers of jobs and now, doing great work to help develop

clean water. i would like to ask you, based on coca-cola's experience, and also to share with us, the partnership you have with the new alliance. >> thank you, ambassador rice. and i also want to start by complimenting president obama and the administration for this wonderful initiative. i think this has been something in the waiting and it's come now and i think it's a great time. so, wonderful to be here at this occasion. my company has been honored to be part of the african community since 1928.

and today if we fast forward, i think what we see is the youngest continent, an incredibly vibrant continent, and i've been saying three years ago that this decade, when it started, would be the decade of africa. the untold decade of africa is starting. small increments of improvement in africa is yielding exponential results as is infrastructure investments. and we see that. we see that as the company that operates prout proudly 147 factories and is one of the largest private employers on the continent. more than 80,000 direct employees and indirectly almost a million employees through our infrastructure. and i think if you take, and today, also i'm proud, back at beginning of the decade, we

announce investments of $12 billion in the decade we're in in africa and up from $5 billion the previous decade and again, very proud to announce increasing that 7 billion to 12 billion, and not even in the middle of the decade now. and so, i would like to look at infrastructure in over three vectors. vector number one is the basic infrastructure, our, telecommunications, roads, bridges, all of that infrastructure. that then allows business infrastructure, and the second vector to come in and now that transitioning into what i call social infrastructure and a third vector as to what is best described as the business working government and civil society academia to create social infrastructure. to improve education and improve the entrepreneurial spirit. improve sanitation. improve water. the third of african communities

still live without clean water. today we have an initiative called rain. which is short for replenish africa initiative. we bring water so far proudly to 1,600 communities. i'm proud to say we work closely with ibm on that project. we bring sterile vaccine grade water with partners, with ifc, the bill and melinda gates foundation, co-investors, into small villages, small towns. provide connectivity, solar power, and this unit that we've developed works with, again, solar power. 1,000 liters of sterile water generated from any water, no

matter how contaminated the water is, working on solar power. and we need to scale these up. we're looking for partners. we're inviting partners to come and join us. i talked to strive about it and i think all we need to continue to scale these big projects up from where they are. then we have another initiative, which is the last mile, which again we work with the bill and melinda gates foundation to take hiv vaccines with our own infrastructure because we request go the last mile with more than tens of thousands of vehicles and microdistributors in africa, which by the way most are women entrepreneurs, so that's part of our 5 by 20, 5 million women to be empowered by 2020 initiative, which connects into the microdistribution to take hiv vaccines to the last mile to the villages and we have

increased distribution to tanzania alone just through that initiative that's part of the commitment we had with president obama on world's aids day 2 1/2 years ago, two-plus years ago, to extradite women-to-child transmission by 2015. and we are on target. we will do that. that's, again, a really important initiative. those are all the social infrastructure, the third vector, which i wanted to emphasize. and despite the gaps of basic infrastructure that steve talked about, despite the gaps in business infrastructure because there just is not sufficient foreign direct investment today in africa, there needs to be more. and despite the fact that we still need to scale up all these great programs, i am extremely bullish about the future of africa. the youngest billion, and the most dynamic region in the world that i can see right now. thank you.

>> thank you. you are relatively modest in touting your increasing another $5 billion in investment in africa. and i just want to thank you and applaud coca-cola's leadership and its partnership with the new alliance for food security and nutrition. which is an effort that many in this room have joined the united states and some of our partners internationally in supporting. it is bringing opportunity and food security to people all over the couldn't nentinent, in part women and women farmers. if i might, jen y turn to you and it would be very helpful, i think, for all of us to understand ibm's experience and story in africa. tell us a bit about the environment you found, the opportunities you found, and in

particular, the invasion that you have brought to the conception of smart cities in africa. >> well, like everyone here, and like muhtar just said, the opportunity and the future. and strive mentioned, we've had much discussion about both the hard infrastructure and about things like oil and gas that we always speak of, but of equal importance is this digital infrastructure. and i'd even challenge everyone to think about not necessarily just hard resources as natural resources, but that for this continent, the information will be its next natural resource. but like natural resources, have you to refine it so you have to do something with it. but if you can, its returns are endless in this case, unlike hard resources. so, this is really to me the foundation for much of what we've been focussed on. like muhtar's company, we've

went there not quite as long, 1937. but for many years we were in eight countries and we've accelerated. we are in 24 countries today. like many others here today, over the next seven years we'll be investing at least $2 billion across these countries as we continue to develop here. so i'm very proud about that. as you look at the development as many people have said, i would offer maybe just a slightly different twist on the lens of the opportunity. if you take a look, we mentioned urban, we mentioned smarter cities. when you look at business-to-business companies, there are 52 cities over a million in population across the continent. and there are over 400 businesses over $1 billion in size. so, they look to partnerships. we all talked about the talent. i don't know why any company wouldn't want to be part of both growing and having that talent as a part of their company that will exceed china and india.

as part of their company that will exceed china and india. and the third point i would mention though, strive mentioned the mobile infrastructure, it is as a percent of gdp, it is 3x that of developing countries. and it will, as this conference started, i believe africa will be the place where things will leapprogress and solutions will be brought through africa to other parts of the world. i think that's incredibly important in how you approach the continent in many countries. and to the question about smarter cities, i would say we've taken two approaches on this. one has been if you look at urbanization, and you want a cite, you have to build a blueprint, we have done 200 project across ten countries and in many cases, where you said to bring people from america there and vice versa, we've had 800 ibmers from other companies as well join us on these projects.

that range from nairobi, traffic, mobile payments for government work, it could be in zambia for work we're doing with the ministry of health. the projects run the gambit. but the other side when you think about urbanization in other cities is foundation industries have be to be really strong. i also wanted to take this opportunity and foundation to me is telco, banking, strong government services and then obviously retail. these are the things as countries develop. let me take the opportunity to announce that we also today had formed an engagement in a partnership with fidelity bank in ghana, $100 million that we will together, a project we'll work on with them, as they transform global standards to do innovation within and around ghana. and i would thank president mohammed of ghana and the climate for business as well as edward afa, president and ceo,

about the vision thor these companies. we are very proud to announce this deal with the bank of ghana today for almost $70 million. but together i would underscore out of all of that the kind of work you can do in the cities, the opportunity that's there, i would just sort of latch on, if i could end on a point that strive mentioned, which is about the skills and developing the youth. because i -- i do really commend president obama and the team for the work on yali, the work that's been done there. it's both a public and private partnership. but i would say one of my biggest learnings and my passion around africa, it is not about money. it is about developing the capability that's there. so all of our efforts, we've opened a research lab. we only have 12 in the world. true research in nairobi. all of our education programs. we offered all of our software in the cloud free to every university. we are training a thousand professors.

60 universities. so that the next wave of students, they are the agriculture worker of the future. they are the manufacturer of the future that will have to know the sciences and know i.t. and then we've offered programs -- we have wul called leading to africa which i think is an mazing thought. it is that 6,500 applicants of students who are from africa, going to school in other countries in the world, and we've now put them through internships for two years. as they graduate university they will now go back and work hopefully for us or some of you. but they will go back and work across the continent. so there's leading to africa and leading in africa, programs that are there. so, i am such a strong believer that the greatest contribution we can all make in a win/win fashion is to develop those skills. >> thank you very much. that's good. tshepo, you have the very

distinguished and productive experience in investing in various different ways in africa, but particularly in infrastructure. you've been a pioneering partner in power africa, for which we're very graitful. you've built airports. you've done everything. and it would be useful to hear your perspective on where the capital can come from, how we can attract more in the way of foreign direct investment in africa's infrastructure, and what the united states will optimally ought to be. >> thank you, ambassador rice. i think six years ago, if we tried to put into a room these distinguished type of people and we tried to talk about africa, the conversation would be very different. today we talk in terms of about business, we talk about returns, and i think it is great. so, therefore, it can only tell you for the next coming six years, can you imagine what that would mean for capital. and i think that's what, you

know, the manner in which we would like capital to start looking at the continent of africa in terms of, you know, on a long-term can give from a point of view and also investing in hard assets like infrastructure which contributes like tangible results to gdp. because the truth is that the whole competitive of the continent is very dependent on improving the infrastructure, whether social or economic. but we see that. initially the challenge most had was one of finding capital to be committed to the long-term development of the continent. in our initial struggles, we are very much focused whereby we couldn't get capital to commit to long-term funds. you are never going to build a

road or a power project or an airport or a port with money that must get in and out within five, six years out of an economy. so, therefore, i think initially, through the support of very smart capital, some of the funds on the continent, which were our initial investors, ensured we could establish and start off with the first 15-year fund on the continent to enable that type of investment to be able to take place. i think that thesis is proving itself by the very fact that today we can sit here and talk about africa in the sense that we're talking about today is the very testament to the fact that this is happening. there's still a lot of capital needed to develop the continent's infrastructure. but i think every sort of few years, the story gets better and better. that capital is now realize iin

that business has been proven and there are returns to be made. but it's still very much a need -- initially, we had two pension funds supporting the fund. the patient fund, we have to say -- today, you getfunds. we have seen serious reform with funds in nigeria, starting to invest in the infrastructure there. it always bodes very well for the continent and those funds are not doing it because they just african but also doing it for returns. because inasmuch as anything, they have to look after. they have to do the right thing. they do it for return, not only just because they are african. but to get in both benefits out

of that. >> thank you very much. [ applause ] we have a few minutes left. i wanted to spend the time that remains on a theme that everybody has touched on in one form or fashion, which is africa's human capital. what some might call soft infrastructure. without that, everything else is secondary. with that, africa's potential is limitless. each of you in your own ways have not only emphasized that but invested in real terms to develop that human capital. i'd like to just invite your thoughts and comments on ways that the united states, both private sector and government, might take our partnership to develop africa's human capital to another level and to hear from our friends and colleagues from africa, you know, what is

our value added? how can we support africa's development of its own human capital in an optimal way? and in particular, help in the creation of jobs for young people that will be skilled jobs for the future. >> thank you. you know, dr. jim kim used a very interesting expression when he spoke of shared prosperity. you know, even as we talk of infrastructure like power, it's very important for us to keep in mind that there are still milli millions of african children going to bed every night without a light, even to read. there are simple things we can do such as providing solar lanterns so that children can read at night.

there are simple things we can do right now, building mini-grids, because a lot of our villages will not receive the power from these big power stations. so to have a big power line go over your village and because you built 5,000 megawatts for the city when we look at how we can use solar power to build mini-grids so children can have access to those simple things. these are things we can do today. we can remove tariffs on things like solar lanterns. there are so many countries who still have tariffs on something like a solar lantern. these are simple things. i would like to urge governments to strip such things away because the private sector can do such things for you today. education is the key. we have to get kids into school. and to the extent that even the private sector as we go into

these countries, we must then mind that that is a piece of our investment. it's not so much about your own workers. but what can you do to get kids into school, even if you are -- even if you don't need them as employees? thank you. >> thank you. >> i wanted to add that i think this is the opportunity of one of these ideas that would be a leapfrog, a grand challenge that could not only solve a big issue in africa but other parts of the world. to strive's point, the size and the number of students to be educated is so large. i think working together, this grand challenge of taking what you might call massive online open education, e-learning to a different level of joint public, private. we started work on this. that's between -- if you can understand a child's context, the way they learn, behavior of their learning, you can really break through electronically

with them on a scale that you could no chance have to do otherwise with teachers across a continent like that. so this idea that we could have a great breakthrough on the grand challenge of e-learning coming out of africa, i think is really quite real in the basis of a public, private number of different partnerships to advance that. >> thank you. >> i think with regards to the youth and employment issues is a global phenomenon. there's a need with regards to -- from an african point of view addressing that, looking at some of -- what sort of other smart partnerships in terms of investment in social infrastructure, especially education. what sort of -- with the private sector, government can get in the growth within the education economy. that's what is needed, because

the type of skills we have now, we're not geared up for that. the need to be able to be competitive. many years forward, it will lead the type of intervention we put in place. >> thank you. >> one other aspect is, we can help raise the confidence of youth in africa. i think that's a really, really important thing. if you looked 15, 20 years ago, africa wasn't associated with always positive things, war, strife, conflict. today, i think there's confidence coming to the youth. brand is a promise well kept, a good brand is a promise well kept. that promise is a vibrant future. we in our world of communication, we created a piece of communication that said

a billion reasons to believe in africa. and we basically ran that 60-second piece of communication across every nation in africa. and it produced enormous results when we looked at how it connected with people. you can actually go into youtube and white billions to believe in africa and you can see that piece. i think those are the kind of things that africa needs more than -- youth needs more than ever to believe in itself and that -- to believe that they can really make a difference, a positive difference in this world that we live in today, which i believe they will. >> a great place to end. i want to thank each of our panelists for participating and for adding their wisdom and insight. more than that, i want to thank you for all you are doing with and for the united states africa partnership and for helping us take it to a new leavel so when

we look back ten years from now , we will see it as a collaboration and partnership based on mutual interest and a mutual partnership. so thank you all very much. [ applause ] next a portion of this year's u.s. africa summit on improving educational opportunities for women and girls. speakers included intel, camfed international and the forum for african women. this is 35 minutes. [ applause ] hello, everyone. delighted to be here. i'd like to thank everyone so much for joining us