Africa Energy Forum attracts global attention

© Pedro Antonio Salaverría Calahorra – 123RF.com

Ministers of Energy, Infrastructure and Finance from Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia, as well as heads of utilities and regulators across Africa have confirmed that they will be attending the forum.

New events for 2015 include:

• This year's forum introduces the Power In Africa Awards & Black Tie Gala Dinner - an Emirati Banquet honouring people and businesses with actual projects in operation on the continent.
  
• Africa Energy Yearbook - the official publication of the Forum now featuring insights from the most prolific investors and important stakeholders in the energy space.
  
• Private meeting rooms for over 530 closed door meetings between investors and stakeholders.
  
• Sponsored by Aggreko and Norton Rose Fulbright, the EnergyNet Student Engagement Initiative (ESEI) brings 32 of the brightest chemical engineers and economics and law students from South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia to Dubai to meet investors and take that next step towards further development and employment.
  
• This year also sees the launch of the ESEI Innovation Hub, showcasing creative exciting and scalable renewable technology destined to impact Africa's access to alternative energy solutions.
  
• Access Power present the Access Co-development Fund (ACF); a live 'Dragon's Den' style competition for early stage project investment, enabling four shortlisted projects to pitch for up to $5m of development finance which will be awarded during the forum.

"We're delighted to bring AEF to Dubai to enable stakeholders to capture the massive potential of Middle Eastern investment. The response from regional investors has been unprecedented and it will be exciting to learn from them how the Emirates has successfully used its natural resources to turn its economy into a booming global empire," EnergyNet's Simon Gosling commented.