24 fast-growing African companies have been selected to win a place in the DealRoom to be held at the Africa Forum 2018 on December 8 and 9th in Egypt. It is a special matchmaking platform for African companies developed and run jointly by Asoko Insight and IC Publications.

The selected companies will meet and pitch their business to leading investors, private equity firms and venture capital firms to secure funding for their business expansion and growth ovet the two days. They will have a 30 minutes window to achieve this. These 24 companies - hand picked from over 200entrants from across Africa that applied to participate - were chosen for their strong financial track record, solid revenue, and expansion and export potential. Leading African economic intelligence company Asoko Insight and IC Publications ran the selection process.

Africa 2018 is the biggest business forum to take place in the continent this year, bringing together over 200 startups, nine heads of state, and over 3,000 delegates at Sharm -el-Sheikh on Dec 8thand 9th.

The Forum has special focus on Young Entrepreneurs Day, on the 8th December aimed to connect tomorrow's future business leaders, with like-minded entrepreneurs and help them, through a series of workshops and discussions, take their businesses to the next level. It also hosted the inaugural Women Empower Africa sessions on the 8thto discuss and share ideas on gender equality in parliament and in boardrooms and help women shape Africa's future.

Speaking on the partnership, Asoko Insight's Chief Innovation Officer Obi Ejimofosaid, "African businesses are rapidly growing in number and sophistication, but the challenge of positioning themselves in front of institutional investors and global corporates, remains. Being part of initiatives such as this, designed to enhance private sector cooperation and drive investment in sectors of strategic interest within Africa, is at the core of our vision at Asoko".

Pedro Besugo, IC Publications said, "We have noted over the years that it is the start ups and small businesses which find it hard to raise finance to grow their business. To plug this gap we developed the DealRoom platform with Asoko Insight and launched it last year at Africa 2017. We are pleased to say that the number of entants and those selected have doubled in a year. WE have also successfully used the platform at other business events.

Ismail Talbi, Partner, MD of AfricInvest Egypt said, "I have spent two days here in various meetings in the DealRoom. We are Looking for investment in Africa and we met a few companies that are interesting." 

The DealRoom at Africa 2018 will focus on companies from sectors including agri-processing, food and beverage, industrial manufacturing, consumer goods.

Please see the list of companies under the below link.

http://amediaagency.com/app/uploads/2018/12/Africa-2018-Investment-Dealroom-2-Pager.pdf

Please find below information about the companies that have been selected and will pitch in the Deal Room.

Company overview:

$5m equity for working capital for West Africa based commodities exchange to expand tradable product portfolio and improve small-holder farmer participation
$1.5m equity investment in Ethiopian Food Processor and exporter to expand production facilities to meet growing demand
$30m investment for multi-sector Ethiopian holding company covering projects in Cement, Coal, Food and Consumer goods businesses
$80m for Ethiopian consumer goods manufacturer to expand food units
$10m for Egyptian Automotive OEM supplier to expand production capacity of complete units
$5m investment for Ethiopian Consumer Goods manufacturer looking to expand capacity and distribution of of high demand products
$20m equity investment in African Processed food exporter seeking to expand backward integration into pre-processing
$3m investment in Nigerian Biotech company to scale up manufacture and expand distribution to 4 more African markets
$4m in rapidly growing East African EduTech company
$5m equity participation in West African logistics company to expand cold chain storage and distribution
$2m in equity for established pan-African hotel booking platform to expand services into new markets
$1.5m investment in East African IT solutions provider to expand footprint in EAC markets
$5m in pan-African telco solutions provider distributing into 46 markets to drive new product development
$5m for consumer goods company with hybrid ecommerce/physical distribution model to expand footprint and extend partner model
$1m equity for working capital for high growth logistics company with operations in East and West Africa
$1.5m investment in Southern African Food and Beverages manufacturer/retailer to expand retail footprint and warehousing capacity
$1.5m for eco-construction company to improve and increase production capacity
$500K for early stage Ethiopian logistics provider
$1m investment in North African Solar lighting manufacturer
$1.5m for Southern African Food & Beverage manufacturer to expand small-holder farmer aggregation and processing capacity
$1m equity investment in West African Hybrid seeds and Agro-input producer $2m in financing for Egypt based IT Solutions and Consultancy provider


Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of IC publications.

If you need further information, please do not hesitate to email/contact Ishara Callan at Ishara Callan i.callan@icpublications.com

About Africa 2018 

Africa 2018 Forum will be held under the high patronage of H.E. Abdel Fattah Al Sisi on 8th and 9th December 2018 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, and is organised by the Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation of Egypt and the COMESA Regional Investment Agency (RIA).

The 2018 edition builds on the success of the previous editions, which have seen the participation of 11 Heads of State and more than 3,000 delegates from 80+ countries. This year the programme has been enhanced with a Women Empowering Africa day as well as our exclusive Presidential Roundtables with African leaders and CEOs as well as a Young Entrepreneurs Day.

Africa 2018 has established itself as the premier business platform to nurture new partnerships; meet investors and fast track your business objectives in Africa.