2022 Africa Round-up Interview Series

Our 2022 Africa Round-up interview series brings you views and insights from some of Africa’s leading voices in finance, with participants from EY, PwC, and the Kenya Pension Funds Investment Consortium.

Each podcast interview provides a summary of 2022 from an African perspective and covers several topics, including the impact of climate change, COVID-19, inflation, and the predictions and recommendations for African family-owned businesses and corporations in 2023.

Frank Mwiti, Partner and Eastern Africa Markets Leader at EY, joins us for the third year of our Africa Roundup interview series, sharing his annual reflections and predictions for Africa’s economy and financial landscape.

Looking back on 2022 as a year of rebuilding, Frank discusses how Africa has been impacted by COVID-19, the fallout of Ukraine / Russia war, the sweeping inflation rates and issues with foreign currency.  Analysing the year, Frank describes 2022 as a good year for the finance and technology sector. For 2023, Frank anticipates the resolution of political instability in Ethiopia, further disruptions as a result of climate change, and East Africa will continue contributing to some of the fastest growing economies in the continent.

As a Partner at PwC Nigeria, Esiri leads the Private Wealth Client Services team which provides specialised services to high-net worth families and entrepreneurs.

In this episode, Esiri explains how the rise in debt levels across Africa was exacerbated by COVID-19 and how Africa’s macro-economic issues resulted in migration to other jurisdictions. For West Africa specifically, the war between Ukraine and Russia exposed the huge dependency of imports from these countries, resulting in inflation and food insecurity. For 2023, Esiri foresees capitalisation in the digital space and how this can be incentivised with preferential allocation of foreign exchange to investors. With the adoption of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), a positive indicator for African businesses looking to invest in green projects, Esiri envisages that sustainability will evolve beyond traditional investments, such as agriculture, in 2023.

Mercy Gakii Muthuuri is an investment professional with 12 years’ experience in portfolio management, pensions funds investment, business advisory, infrastructure investment and climate adaptation finance.

Mercy reflects on the challenges faced by East Africa in 2022, discussing how family-owned businesses can attract foreign investors through good corporate governance and business continuity planning. Looking forward, Mercy identifies East Africa’s priority sectors as agriculture, real estate and climate-sensitive investments. As the Government incentivises international capital through policies seeking transparency, Mercy hopes this, alongside a strengthened judiciary, will help East Africa attract sustainable long-term foreign investment and aid the reform of the economy in 2023.