Enabling much-needed FDI for African manufacturing can be huge driver of poverty alleviation

Driven by its mission to help African manufacturers attract needed foreign direct investment to scale, create jobs, and boost local capacity, Manufacturing Africa is set to host a Deals Pitch Room at this year’s AFSIC - Investing in Africa conference. 

“We see this as a huge driver of poverty alleviation,” says Thomas Pascoe, Team Leader at Manufacturing Africa. “Creating manufacturing jobs means taking people out of the informal sector and into roles with regular incomes, regulated conditions, and structured career paths. The impact at household level can be transformational, giving families the opportunity to educate their children and afford healthcare.”

Manufacturing Africa is the UK’s flagship economic development programme for Africa, and its 90-minute Manufacturing Deals Pitch Room at AFSIC - Investing in Africa will be an exciting session where investment-ready African manufacturing businesses will present their businesses directly to AFSIC’s investor base. 

The curated platform will connect companies seeking investment to viable investors. The event will showcase high-potential deals, foster networking, and accelerate investment decisions. All the pitching companies have been selected based on their high potential for deal closure, having received comprehensive investment readiness support from Manufacturing Africa.

Manufacturing Africa’s programme helps African companies become investor-ready.

“This is responsive at the point of need: it can be anything from a whole business strategy, market assessment, and planning to more technical corporate finance work to unlock investment,” says Pascoe. “We work on addressing the bottleneck to capital coming in. We also offer market studies and development impact assessments to strengthen companies’ appeal to investors.”

Manufacturing Africa conducts sector-wide strategic transformation studies to identify high-impact opportunities and inform policy development, adds Pascoe. These studies help shape targeted interventions and guide both public and private sector efforts to grow key manufacturing sectors.

AFSIC supports UK initiatives like Manufacturing Africa by profiling investor-ready projects, hosting pitching sessions, and facilitating networking between African businesses and global investors. It also leverages platforms like the AFSIC Deal Book and African Investments Dashboard to increase visibility and coordination of UK-backed opportunities. All this is done across FCDO programmes, UK investors, and UK companies and advisors in the ecosystem.

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