On Wednesday 20 November 2024, ECDC chief executive officer Ayanda Wakaba delivered an address titled “Pitfalls in Development Finance Services – Observations from the Coal Face” at the Global Development Finance Conference held at the UCT Graduate School of Business and Marriott Hotel, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town from 20-21 November 2024.
Convened under the theme: Financing for Sustainable Growth: The Role of Development Finance, the conference is organised by the Chartered Institute of Development Finance, Development Finance Centre (UCT GSB) and the Africagrowth Institute. It is organised in partnership with major development finance institutions, financial institutions, academic institutions and governments, to discuss issues around sustainable finance practices and research.
Key insights from the CEOs presentation included the need to pay added attention to directed integrated support for industrial growth, particularly in underdeveloped areas in the form of investment in critical enabling infrastructure, widening digital connectivity and market access opportunities.
Mr Wakaba outlined the need for a continuous self-review of the DFI institutional behaviour focused on creating a more efficient, transparent, target market responsive, and predictable business support and funding landscape. He further emphasized the need for deliberate programming aimed at improving the socio-economic environment of the target market i.e. empowerment of beneficiary institutions and enterprises and collaboration with other institutions to improve the support ecosystem.
Wakaba highlighted that project development costs remain one of the barriers of access to development finance. He concluded his talk by stating the significance of aligning the DFI service offering with the environment within which it operates to improve access and responsiveness of the offered services.