SDGs create investment opportunities in Africa

24 Jan 2020

There is a $197bn opportunity for private-sector investors in five high-growth markets in Africa to help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with improving digital access making up $74.5bn of that total.

Image source: Getty/Gallo

Opportunity2030: The Standard Chartered SDG Investment Map reveals that invesors can contribute to three infrastructure-focused goals between now and 2030 across emerging markets.:

SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

This represents a $10trn opportunity for private sector investors across the globe, which is around 40% ot the total funding required to meet specific indicators within the three SDGs – allowing for population growth as well as maintaining current access – with public funds expected to provide the bulk of the investment.

Five African countries are included in the study: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia. Key highlights include:

Providing universal digital access represents the greatest investment opportunity for the private sector by 2030 ($74.5bn), followed by universal access to power ($65.8bn), transport infrastructure ($46.4bn) and access to clean water and sanitation ($10.3bn)
The biggest single opportunity across the African markets in the study is in increasing digital access – a combination of mobile phone subscriptions rates and internet connectivity – in Nigeria ($47.4bn). Driven by its large and growing population, Nigeria also offers the greatest overall opportunity across the SDG indicators measured (a total of $114.2bn), followed by Kenya ($40bn)
Zambia and Kenya present a big opportunity to make an impact on SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation): With an average of 43% and 56% of the population respectively currently lacking access to clean water and sanitation, there is a $0.7bn and $2.3bn private-sector investment opportunity to help close the gap by 2030
Uganda presents a meaningful opportunity to make an impact on SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy): with just 22% of the population that have access to electricity, there is a $6.1bn private-sector investment opportunity to help achieve universal access by 2030
The greatest investment opportunity in Ghana is in achieving and maintaining universal access to electricity (a key SDG 7 indicator), representing a $7.8bn private-sector opportunity