Africa was an attractive destination for investment and there was an abundance of business opportunities that had led to an increase in the number of multinationals wanting to use those opportunities on the continent, said auditing and consulting firm Deloitte Southern Africa CEO Lwazi Bam at the Africa Risk conference, held in Johannesburg on August 2.

However, he disputed whether the foreign direct investment (FDI) flowing to the continent was sufficient: “Are we getting our fair share of the FDI spend?”

Bam did note, however, that, generally, the world was still in a recession.

According to the ‘2013 World Investment Report’, Africa received a 5% increase in FDI to $50-billion last year.

He also wanted to know the nature of the lead the African business community needed to take to ensure it received its “fair share of investment in Africa”.

Bam noted that the key factor that drove Africa’s attractiveness as a continent was its abundant natural resources, adding that the continent’s growing middle class and innovation also attracted investment.

He added that the growth in Africa was fuelled by demand from China for Africa’s natural resources.

“We have done well. We have moved from a continent that was considered a basket case and now we are at a stage where we need to ensure we transition from donor funding to investment funding,” he stated.

However, he said, a limitation in power capa- city was straining Africa’s development and urged that the $7-billion investment, which would double the access to power on the world’s poorest continent, announced by US President Barrack Obama last month, be used wisely, as it would benefit the continent in terms of developments.

Bam stressed that Africa needed to accelerate its level of execution and implementation of infrastructure.

Using Estonia as an example, he illustrated that the country was currently the world’s technology leader and held the record for the highest number of start-ups per person. It was also the first country to introduce online voting.

Bam said that Africa needed to undertake similar innovations and asked businesses how the continent could be marketed.

“We market Africa as one entity, but we don’t pay attention to the fact that we have 54 sovereign States that are fragmented in some areas, such as tax laws.”

He concluded that businesses should, nonetheless, be excited about the prospects the continent presented.