Malawi gears for 2nd Investment Forum
Malawi has started preparations for the second ever Malawi Investor Forum (MIF) scheduled for later this year with a mini forum for major investment financiers slated for Blantyre on May 10 2016, the Malawi
Trade and Investment Centre (MITC) has announced.
The MIF, which Malawi last year trumpeted as a push to put the country on the radar for global business and investment, will this year be held from 10 to 11 October.
Among major investment financing institutions heading for the summit, which is a follow up to last year’s first ever MIF, include the PTA Bank, Overseas Private Investment Corporation and African Development Bank, Afrixim Bank, UK Export Finance Agency and Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa.
MITC Chief Executive Officer Clement Kumbemba said at a media briefing in Lilongwe on Tuesday that the forum will bring together regional and international financiers to a roundtable with the local private sector.
“The objective is to bring the financiers to our doorsteps to interact with our private sector companies and entrepreneurs that have bankable proposals and discuss with financiers on project finance support and equity participation, among other possible models,” Kumbemba said.
“We want Malawi to be an attractive and preferred destination on the global investment map,” added Kumbemba.
However, Kumbambe said the first forum continues bearing fruits, citing scores of investors who have followed up on interests expressed during the forum with subsequent visits to sign MOUs, embark on construction of physical infrastructure or sign contracts, among others.
Since the first forum, government has signed MOUs in the energy sector including with independent power producers, the start of construction of a five-star hotel near Mchinji roundabout in Lilongwe, a new fertilizer manufacturing plant under construction in Lilongwe, a company interested in turning the Zambezi and shire river into navigable waters for the Shire Zambezi waterway project, among others.
