​Financing for Sustainable Development in Africa

Summary from November 2 event hosted by Sweden Africa Chamber of Commerce and AFRY

Sweden Africa Chamber and AFRY hosted an afternoon to discuss the possibilities of financing and
investing for Sustainable development and how Sweden and Swedish companies can contribute.

Our keynote speaker H.E. Mrs Graça Machel shared how seed-funding to women entrepreneurs in
Africa leads to exponential development. With her inspiring speech, she declared how
empowerment contributes to improvement in policy and economy, and how important it is to
recognize the people behind the numbers (rather than only GM and EBITA). She also presented the
strong efforts accomplished by the Graça Machel Trust and its team.

Andia Laura Chakava, Investment Director of the Graça Machel Trust, further explained how they
continually develop programs to innovate and drive more capital to women entrepreneurs in Sub
Sahara Africa.

The keynote was followed by a panel discussion on how Swedish financing and investing can
contribute to sustainable solutions in Africa with both governmental and private companies. The
panel was comprised of Karin Kronhöffer, Director Strategy and Communication at Swedfund,
Victor Carstenius, Senior Analyst at EKN, Maximilian Jönsson, advisor PowerAfrica team at SIDA,
and Ulrika Hasselgren, CSO at Coeli Group.

The event was chaired and moderated by our President of the chamber Åsa Jarskog.

The Swedish Fika was appreciated, and the networking was intense with a happy and inspiring
atmosphere around the coffee and cinnamon buns. There were Ambassadors, representatives from
Embassies, Members of the Chambers, and representatives from private and public sector.
Some comments from the participants:

“What a privilege to hear H.E Mrs Graca Machel and her team from  Graça Machel Trust  sharing how
seed funding to women entrepreneurs in Africa leads to exponential development”

“A privilege to hear the insights from Graça Machel. Also, big thank you to organizers, Åsa, fellow
panelists and participants. We've all been to many of these events, I thought this was a good one.”

“A good discussion on how to advance sustainable investments Africa!”

“Thank you for the great panel session.”

“Impressive speech - and an excellent event.”