The Africa Business Summit has established itself as a leading forum for shaping an integrated and innovative perspective on Africa’s future.

The Summit is a student-led initiative of the London Business School (LBS) that attracts an audience of over 500 investors, policymakers, business leaders, professionals, diaspora, students, and alumni.

In a statement issued by Zedcrest, the company explained that its decision to sponsor the summit was borne out of the need to promote an inclusive economy in Africa and to further extend the company’s prosperity inclusion advocacy to Africans in diaspora, and foreign investors.

According to Adedayo Amzat, Group Managing Director, Zedcrest Group,

“With 70% of Africa’s population under the age of 30, the continent is really the last frontier for global companies and investors hunting for the next big markets to deploy both capital and products.

“The continent has also witnessed a huge leap in the quantum and quality of entrepreneurial efforts, particularly in the emerging technology world. African founders have proven that they are world-class in applying innovative technologies in solving our everyday problems. However, the local capital markets haven’t developed enough to facilitate this growth, leading to a disproportionate reliance on foreign capital.

“Domestic capital pools from the Banks, Pension Funds, Asset Managers and HNIs will need to be mobilised to support the growth of innovation on the continent”, he said.

He opined that the number of deals and funding in African startups has been growing over the last few years, and the ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) could also boost the African startup ecosystem by creating the biggest Free Trade Area in the world.

The Summit themed: ‘Africa Post-Pandemic: Unlocking the Next Frontier of Growth’, will have Abdourahmane Cissé, Minister, Secretary General, Presidency of Ivory Coast and Juliet Ehimuan, Director, Google West Africa as keynote speakers.

Panel speakers for the plenary sessions are Adedayo Amzat, Group Managing Director, Zedcrest; Admassu Tadesse, President of TDB Group; Serge Ekué, President at BOAD (West African Development Bank); Kudazyi Hove, Entrepreneur and Board Member; Caleb Usoh, Country Director (Nigeria) at OCP SA; Ido Sum, Partner at TLcom Capital; Jonathan Brenton, Head of International Trade at Pernod Ricard; Dr. Davis Musinguzi, Co-Founder & CEO at Rocket Health; Eren Kelekci, Chief Investment Officer, Food and Agriculture at African Development Bank Group.

Other speakers include Habiba Ben Barka, Chief of Africa Section at UNCTAD; Colin Coleman, Former CEO Goldman Sachs SSA, Yale Fellow; Fani Titi, CEO at Investec; Joseph-Alain Saraka, Chief Strategy Officer at ARISE; Peter Nyeko, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Mandulis Energy; Ibrahim Sagna, Director Advisory & Capital Markets at Afrexim; Mohamed Dabbour, CEO at Aesthina Partners Ltd and Thione Niang, Founder at JeufZone Farm.

Zedcrest Group (“Zedcrest Capital” or “Zedcrest”) is the parent company of Zedvance Finance Limited, a leading consumer lending firm; Zedcap Partners, a foremost securities brokerage firm engaging in the broking of financial products in sub-Saharan Africa Over-the-counter (OTC) Fixed Income and currencies markets (FICC).

Zimvest, an asset management firm licensed by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) is also a subsidiary of the Group.

Zedcrest was recently recognised as the fastest-growing firm in Nigeria’s financial services sector, second fastest-growing company in the country and the fifth fastest-growing in Africa in the 2022 Financial Times ranking for Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies published on its official website.

The company was also recognized as the 2022 Best Proprietary Investments Firm in Nigeria by International Business Magazine, a Dubai-based business and financial reporting publication.

The tickets for the summit are on sale now and you can register when you visit here.

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The inaugural FT list which was compiled with Statista, a research company, was released after months of study, public calls, intense database research, and direct interaction with over 900 public companies in the continent.

Seventy-five (75) firms were ranked among millions of African-based businesses based on their revenue compound annual growth (CAGR) between 2017 and 2020.

“It’s an honour to be ranked on the inaugural FT Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies list,” said Adedayo Amzat, group managing director, Zedcrest Group. “It is a direct reflection of the leadership team we have in place, and I couldn’t be more proud of our team. We’ve been fortunate to extend our business across different verticals of the financial sector over the past few years and we’ll continue to evaluate opportunities in other markets as part of our future growth strategy.”

He reaffirmed the company’s commitment to building inter-connected financial solutions across Africa through technological innovation while ensuring global best practices.

The ranking, according to FT, offers a view of the corporate landscape on a continent where technology, finance, and support-service companies have had to adjust to a drastically changed environment.

Nigeria was the second most represented country in the ranking, with 20 companies, behind South Africa (24) and ahead of Kenya (nine), and Egypt (six).

These are also the markets that have attracted the most venture capital and where unicorns (companies valued at $1bn+) and would-be unicorns have proliferated.

According to FT, “Many of the fastest-growing companies, especially in the fintech sector, are those seeking to tap Africa’s unbanked population or markets that have previously been underserved or ignored. The health and education sectors, for example, spurred by unmet needs and rising aspirations, are among those offering the most scope for growth.”

However, not all of the fastest-growing companies are high-tech. Zedcrest Group, for example, has operating subsidiaries that are well recognized and celebrated as industry leaders in securities markets, consumer finance, and asset management.

Its inter-dealer brokerage aim, Zedcap Partners is a leader player in the Nigerian Securities markets, winning the FMDQ’s best brokerage service award for the third year running. Zedcap has a clientele and partners lists including players in the pension industry, asset managers, commercial banks and an impressive list of foreign portfolio investors in the Nigerian financial markets.

Zedvance Finance, the consumer lending aim of Zedcrest Group is easily the most popular lending business with the working population in Nigeria. Serving over 1million salary earners in the country. Zedvance Finance is also actively developing new consumer & business loans products and BNPL solutions for the mass market.

ZIMVEST, the SEC-regulated investment platform of Zedcrest Group is bringing the best of personalised, digital investment solutions to individuals and businesses through a range of portfolios cutting through global equities, fixed income funds and ETFs. All products of Zimvest can be accessed via the Zimvest mobile app.

Zedcrest’s principal investing business is heavily focused on technology-driven business models across commerce, finance and social impact sectors (education, healthcare and agriculture) leveraging technology, global partnerships & best-in-class processes.

The company has backed more than 50 companies across the African continent over the past 36 months, including high growth companies like Leatherback, Koniku, Reliance Health, Helium Health, Utiva, Bankly, Bento, Abwaab, Indicina, TalentQL, Flyr Labs, Yoello and Zumi.

Asides from technology investments, Zedcrest is also invested in Oil & Gas upstream and midstream assets, with investments in Ingentia Energies, operator of the newly awarded Egbolom, an onshore (swamp) marginal field situated in OML 23, located in the Central Niger Delta Sedimentary Basin.

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