First General Meeting of Shareholders of Africa50 On 21 July 2016 in Casablanca in Morocco

The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Akinwumi A. Adesina thanked the shareholders for their support and welcomed the newcomers. Adesina briefed delegations on the key milestones reached by Africa50 in its first five months of operation and the roadmap for 2016. This is based on continued fundraising to reach the bar of one billion and the short-term commitment of the first investments in projects.

With the new subscriptions of two States and two institutional investors, Africa50 now has 25 shareholders, including 22 African states, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and two central banks (Bank Al Maghrib and the Central Bank of African West African States - BECEAO). It should be noted that, given the current discussions with African States and those planned with institutional investors, Africa50's investor base is set to expand in the coming months.

The GA was also an opportunity to welcome the Director General, Alain Ebobissé. Before being appointed to the head of the Pan-African fund, Alain Ebobissé was chief investment officer in the Infrastructure and Natural Resources department and head of the Global Fund for Infrastructure Project Development at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a subsidiary of the World Bank Group. During his career, he led major projects in several regions around the world, especially in emerging countries. The Chairman of the Board of Directors also thanked the Acting Director General, Alassane Ba, who held the reins of Africa50 during its implementation and fundraising phase.

Africa50 is an investment fund supported by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). It was officially launched in July 2015, at the end of its constitutive General Assembly in Casablanca, Morocco, where it is based. An autonomous entity, it is legally and financially independent of the ADB Group. Africa50's mission is to mobilize long-term savings of African and non-African investors to finance infrastructure projects in Africa. This is based on two structures: a project finance company and a project development company.

The fund has 22 African countries as shareholders: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, The Gambia and Togo.