UAE to invest in Africa’s tech start-ups

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of State for African affairs, Shakhboot Nahyan Al-Nahyan, said on Friday the Middle East nation would invest in housing and Fintech companies across the continent.

Al-Nahyan, according to a statement published on the African Development Bank (AfDB) website, stated this during the visit of the Bank’s President, Akinwumi Adesina, to UAE.

The visit was aimed at strengthening the economic ties between the country, the Bank, and Africa.

The minister said Africa is the world’s next growth frontier, adding that UAE would not like to be excluded from the opportunities on the continent.

He said: “UAE desires to help African countries diversify their economies, provide value-added support for small and medium-sized enterprises, explore potential social housing investment opportunities, and connect young African fintech companies to innovations that would allow them to grow and thrive on the continent.

“We consider the African Development Bank to be the continent’s Think Tank. We believe that Africa is the world’s next growth frontier and we don’t want to miss that.”

Meanwhile, AfDB is considering making the UAE one of the Bank’s member nations due to the ties between the country and the multilateral lenders.

Foreign member countries of AfDB are the United States, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark and Finland.

Adesina said UAE has assisted low-income countries in Sub-saharan Africa as a significant investment partner.

He said: “There is a lot that Africa can draw from the UAE’s remarkable success.

“What the UAE has done, using its resources, its drive and determination to develop the country into what it is today is highly impressive.

“We are keen to see the UAE become an even more valued and significant investment partner in Africa. The UAE has been a highly valued participant in the African Development Fund, our Bank Group’s concessionary lending arm supporting low-income countries since 1978.

“Hopefully, we may at some point be able to welcome the UAE as a member of the African Development Bank.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now