Med Aditus Pharmaceuticals is presenting its planned KSh5.2 billion ($40 million) medicine factory in Kisumu County as a flagship project seeking financing at the sixth African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network (AfSNET) Investment Conference in Calabar, Nigeria, scheduled for 12–November 14.
The plant is designed to produce at least two billion tablets and capsules each year for non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer and asthma, conditions that are not transmitted between people.
Kenya currently imports the majority of its medicines, leaving hospitals vulnerable when global supply chains are disrupted, while a domestic factory would reduce that dependence and generate manufacturing jobs.
The Kisumu project is one of three large deals on the conference agenda, which is organised by Afreximbank, Africa’s continental trade bank.
AfSNET assists counties, states and provinces in preparing credible projects and linking them with banks, investors and development partners; it has convened more than 1,400 delegates from 21 African countries across five previous editions and helped unlock over $3.2 billion in identified investment opportunities, although not all of the money has been spent.
Other projects highlighted at the event include a $1.7 billion (about KSh220 billion) deep-seaport at Bakassi in Nigeria, for which the Cross River State government has hired Afreximbank as financial adviser, and an $871 million (about KSh113 billion) Nyanza Light Metals plant in South Africa that will produce titanium-dioxide pigment, an example of beneficiation.
The three-day conference, held at the Calabar International Convention Centre, is themed “The role of Sub-Sovereigns in catalysing development through trade and investment” and will feature training, workshops, investor pitches, deal-room meetings and sessions on tourism, the creative economy and infrastructure such as roads, ports and power lines.
“Sub-sovereign governments are central to Africa’s economic transformation because they are where much of the continent’s production, infrastructure development and investment ultimately take place,” said Kanayo Awani, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President for Intra-African Trade, adding that AfSNET provides a practical platform for connecting viable opportunities with capital.
Host Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State said the conference would demonstrate “the important role that sub-sovereign governments can play in driving trade and investment under the AfCFTA”.
