16/07/2023
The inaugural Eswatini Institutional Investors Forum, which took place at the Mbabane Hilton on June 23, 2023, saw a number of presentations on a variety of topics, including regulatory perspectives, risk, alternative investments, greening Africa, and infrastructure investments. However, innovation took the lead in providing delegates with award-winning opportunities that supported the conference themes of sustainable financing and impact.
One of the most innovative presentations was given by 4iAfrica, winner of the recent SDG Awards hosted by EUTech. 4iAfrica presented a number of exciting opportunities, including long-term energy storage solutions using compressed air as an alternative to deep-cycle batteries. The high-compression device also has the ability to produce hundreds of thousands of liters of clean water from the air daily.
4iAfrica also previewed a petrol-to-hydrogen converter for automobiles and kombis that provides fuel savings of up to 60% while replacing deadly CO2 automobile emissions with water.
Audience
In addition, 4iAfrica's CEO and Founder Al Karaki introduced their NEO Composite innovation, which converts plastic waste into a strong, superior, and lightweight building material that is used to build beautiful two-story homes, factories, schools, and utility buildings. The material is both water and pest resistant, and it has a lower cost, less damaging impact on the environment, and a 10-day build time rather than much longer with traditional building materials. Embedded IOT sensors will monitor the temperature, energy usage, and moisture levels and automatically adjust the living conditions of the house accordingly - a truly affordable "smart" home.
The highlight of the 4iAfrica presentation was AGR, the recent SDG Award-winning Nature-Based Climate Change Solution. AGR is currently the largest in the world and calls for the mass planting of specific high-carbon sequestering crops. These crops will then be processed and converted into hundreds of useful products, including high-protein, nutrient-dense food, medicine, organic fertilizer, eco-friendly building materials, and textiles, bioenergy, and bioplastic, and is estimated to create more than 25 million jobs in the process.
"While we are removing gigatons of CO2 from the atmosphere, we are also addressing multiple issues including food and water insecurity, health, soil/land degradation, poverty, and unemployment all at the same time," says Karaki. "By developing a new 'operating system' for agriculture which includes all the best-growing methods starting with the learnings from indigenous farmers, we will be able to assist the African farming community in attaining greater yields and productivity while improving the current chemically decimated soil."
The AGR Project also includes aquaponics kits and training for schools and rural communities, as well as establishing vertical food farms in or close to urban environments. This is important because Africa has over 200 million people who are facing starvation.
The Eswatini Institutional Investors Forum was hosted by MN Capital Group, a leading investment research and advisory firm with a focus on Africa. "We are proud to have hosted this event and to have showcased some of the most innovative companies on the continent," said MN Capital CEO Michael Ndinisa. "We believe that these companies have the potential to make a real difference in the lives of Africans and to help to build a more sustainable and prosperous future for the continent."
The forum was well attended by over 50 investors and fund managers from Eswatini and around the world. The event was a great success and helped to raise awareness of the investment opportunities in Eswatini and the wider African continent.
