icf corporate brochure 2011_12

ParTnersin buildingThe fuTureAn introduction to ICF

Established in 2007, The Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF) has made a significant impact on African development. ICF has rapidly proven the effectiveness of its novel approach and implemented relevant initiatives that have delivered tangible results across Africa.

ICF’s purpose is to enhance the economic prospects of African society by working with businesses and governments to identify and improve priority areas that drive the investment climate. An improved investment climate is critical for job creation, income growth and poverty reduction across the continent.

Based in Dar es Salaam, ICF is as close to the ground as is possible for a multinational development institution. With our unique insight, ICF is pursuing a hard-hitting programme of change against the following overall objectives:

Building effective coalitions with businesses and governments to identify and implement priority projects that drive Africa’s investment climate.

Working with governments to create a conducive legal, regulatory and administrative environment for businesses at all levels to invest, grow and create jobs.

Improving Africa’s image as an investment destination by effectively telling the story of rapid improvements in the investment climate.

PARTNERS IN BUILDING THE FUTURE

INVESTMENT CLIMATE FACILITY FOR AFRICA | 3

AN INTRODUCTION TO ICF

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Due to our relatively short history, you may not have heard about ICF and it is my great pleasure to take this opportunity to introduce this unique organisation to you through the brief pages of this booklet.

ICF is an international development institution with headquarters in Dar Es Salaam. We have achieved a tremendous amount within a short time and our activities now span across 31 African countries. The early success of our approach and its direct, visible impact on enhancing the economic prospects of our partner countries, has led to a surge in demand for ICF services. Our project portfolio now stands at 49 and is growing fast.

The ICF approach is built on forging strong partnerships between our three most important stakeholder groups being African governments, businesses of all sizes and development partners. We harness focused effort to implementing practical solutions that remove barriers and unleash the resourcefulness of African enterprise. With our indigenous insight, ICF is demand driven whereby receptive African governments take the lead in commissioning investment climate-improving initiatives.

To consolidate the successes ICF has had, we are increasingly focusing our attention to reinforcing the sustainability of these

investment climate improvements by promoting skills training of people involved in implementation of services to the public, as well as accelerating peer to peer knowledge transfer through networking and exchange of best practices across borders.

I welcome you to read further about the many African success stories we have been privileged to be involved in. I also invite you to support this worthwhile effort. Whether it be through passing on the ICF story, or leading your organisation to join as a development partner or even enabling your government to host ICF initiatives, ICF is your partner in building the future.

Omari Issa

Message from the CeO

Who we are

We harness focused effort to implementing practical solutions

that remove barriers and unleash the resourcefulness

of african enterprise

All ICF projects are evaluated against pre-agreed targets and performance indicators, in order to measure accountability and impact. Our belief that success breeds success has been borne out as highlighted by the following key achievements:

The establishment of a high quality and strategically focused project portfolio of 49 projects, many of which are already yielding positive results.

In total, ICF project activity has reached 31 countries across the continent, with 16 partner governments and a number of regional organisations working with ICF.

Demand for ICF services is accelerating; ICF currently has over 20 projects in various stages of development from various governments across the continent.

Recognition of investment climates as a key economic driver is at an all-time high, with a greater number of African governments than ever before

taking steps to improve their business environments.

Businesses of all sizes are reporting immediate and tangible improvements to the ease of doing business in their respective countries following ICF intervention.

As a result of ICF project activity, several of our partner governments have improved their scores in the World Bank’s annual ‘Ease of Doing Business’ reports, proving the very real impact of ICF intervention.

By systematically focusing on areas where practical steps can be taken to remove identified barriers, ICF is helping to reduce the time, cost and risk of doing business on the continent. ICF intervention is generating positive consequences for both domestic and international investor confidence and more broadly, by way of economic growth, jobs and wealth creation.





The term investment climate encompasses the many country specific factors that shape the opportunity and incentives for businesses to invest, create jobs, and grow.

While there is no widely accepted empirical measure for investment climate – being an aggregate concept of conditions prevailing over time – many of the factors that influence it are measured regularly by various institutions. Many of these measures are looked at from the business firm’s perspective. At ICF we recognise that a good investment climate enhances the prospects and outcomes for African society as a whole.

ICF’s approach is demand driven. Intensive consultation with our key stakeholder groups has led to eight priority areas being identified as having the potential to deliver the highest immediate and medium term impact on Africa’s investment climate. These are:

At ICF we believe passionately in Africa’s bright future.

This is a future built not upon foreign aid, but upon a society with empowered members who have the incentive and opportunity to engage in productive business activities that create wealth, employment and well-being. We believe this future is not as far off as it may seem from what is reflected in the general media. However, its speedy realisation requires the active participation of the African governments, the private sector and international development partners.

ICF enables this to happen by building practical, progressive partnerships, bringing together these key players. Our role is to instigate and implement relevant initiatives on the ground that address specific factors, which in turn collectively improve the overall investment climate.

ICF’s contribution has gained both local and international recognition. In its October 2010 report, ‘Still Our Common Interest’, the Commission for Africa highlighted the considerable progress made by African governments to improve investment climates, and called on international businesses and donors to increase their support of ICF. We look forward to working ever more closely with international development partners, the private sector, governments and policy makers who share our vision for an improved investment climate for Africa.We are partners in building the future.

ICF has proven that improvements to the investment climate can be delivered quickly and cost-effectively.

While there are several institutions that provide funds as well as policy

and technical advice to government clients, ICF’s core competence is in the identification, development and implementation of focused projects that deliver tangible measurable results upon implementation.

Why the investment Climate is important

Property rights and contract enforcement

Business registration and licensing

Taxation and customs

Financial markets

Infrastructure facilitation

Labour markets

Competition

Corruption and crime

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how iCf transforms the investment Climate

One of the most notable defining elements of ICF’s model is our demand driven ethos. ICF has not embarked on a top down hard selling approach to potential client governments. Rather, the quick and tangible impact of our early projects has driven a surge in demand for ICF services from both the public and private sectors across Africa.

The following examples illustrate the effectiveness and impact of ICF:

business registration and licensing Costly and inefficient business registration systems can be detrimental to new businesses, especially those that are small or medium in size. Time and cost effective business registration improves access to credit for SMEs, and strengthens the private sector. It also helps formalise the economy with important benefits to government and civil society.

Cape Verde

ICF implemented a project with the government of Cape Verde to establish an electronic one-stop-shop for business life cycles, with the following impact:

It now takes two instead of 15 days to process a wholesale license.

10 instead of 30 days for a construction license.

Two to seven days instead of 15 to 25 days (depending on the type of activity) for a retail license.

An additional achievement of the project includes the introduction and development of business closure procedures, where it now takes two to ten days instead of 15 to 30 days to formally close a business in Cape Verde.





Commercial Justice A healthy business environment is as much about investor confidence as it is about opportunities and resources. A weak or ineffective judicial system can have a severe and direct impact on a country’s investment climate. Facilitating improvements to the continent’s commercial justice systems is a key focus for ICF and projects have received strong support from the private sector, law firms and law associations who are all keen to collaborate with African governments to improve processes.

Rwanda

Rwanda has completed an ICF project which established commercial courts, introduced electronic case management systems and trained judges and magistrates. This had the following results:

A backlog of over 3,300 commercial cases has been cleared.

Over 80% of more than 9,300 new cases introduced by December 2010 had been resolved by May 2011.

The time taken to resolve commercial cases has reduced by an average of 100 days.

land registration Effective land registration provides land owners with property rights, security and access to credit. Registered land improves security for investors, helps prevent boundary disputes and increases investment in the property sector.

Burkina Faso

ICF’s land registration project in Burkina Faso aimed to reduce the time and cost of land registration by refining and streamlining procedures, creating an electronic database for faster and cheaper verification of land titles, thereby stimulating the land market and facilitating access to credit. The project had a dramatic impact, reducing the time it takes to transfer property from 182 days to 21 and saving thousands of dollars in costs.

The impact of iCf’s approach

In Cape Verde the time it takes to gain a construction license has gone from

30 days down to Ten days

In Burkina Faso the time it takes to transfer property

Was 182 days is now 21 days



Taxation

Efficient tax and VAT systems encourage greater compliance and help to formalise the economy which brings important benefits to government and civil society. They also benefit businesses which make fewer and simpler payments.

Mali

ICF supported a project with the Malian Tax Authority which resulted in the reduction of the time, costs and uncertainties related to fiscal dispute resolution. The project modernised and strengthened the tax administration system with the long-term aim of reducing the number, time and costs of fiscal conflicts.

Customs

Streamlined customs processes can help encourage cross-border and international trade. By stimulating new business opportunities, robust customs systems can help reduce business costs, enhance competitivity and ensure greater compliance.

Liberia

The project established a paperless trade process and reduced time and cost of import and export trade procedures including pre-clearance of international trade documents. The computerisation of customs has led to a steep reduction in the time it takes to clear customs from 30 days to just four days.

iCf keeps a very close eye on the details and regularly sends

people to come and see what has been done with the project

Benoit Gatete Rwanda



ICF is working in partnership with the following 16 African Governments to implement investment climate transformation:

Burkina Faso Cape Verde Ethiopia Lesotho Liberia Mali

Rwanda Senegal

Sierra Leone

Tanzania Togo Zambia

MozambiqueMauritius Nigeria

Tunisia

iCf is delivering across africa

ICF’s activities have resonated powerfully across the continent. African governments have increasingly bought into ICF’s practical and responsive partnership approach, leading to a virtuous cycle of increased demand for new projects, as well as sustained support for existing initiatives. Government support of project activity has been a crucial pre-requisite for ICF funding and ensures the long-term success of improvement activity.

While the leadership of these governments are ICF’s main champions, ICF reaches many additional countries working in partnership with regional organisations. This has the added benefit of promoting cross border collaboration and adoption of harmonised practices and procedures.

ICF is currently working harmoniously with the following regional institutions:

The East African Community (EAC) including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.

Organisation pour l’Harmonisation du Droit des Affaires en Afrique (OHADA) including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.



ICF’s Development Partners provide financial support to ICF and play a key advisory role by drawing on their expertise and experience to provide counsel to the Management team. ICF works closely with development partners to avoid any duplication of activity. Wherever possible we strive to complement existing initiatives and fill any gaps that may exist.

In addition to providing financial support, ICF’s private and public sector sponsors have dedicated their skills, time and expertise in a number of different ways. These additional contributions play a pivotal role in helping to increase the breadth and depth of ICF’s impact.

All our supporters are actively involved in project implementation and constantly share experiences, tested techniques and processes to help ensure project success.

Corporate Partners

development Partners

Some of the world’s most successful global companies with active interests in Africa are keen supporters of ICF. Not only do they appreciate the end benefits of ICF’s interventions, they have contributed significant funds to ICF.




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Neville Isdell ICF Co-Chair and Chair of the Board, is the former Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of The Coca-Cola Company. Prior to this he served in many senior roles including Chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Beverages Plc in Great Britain from 1998 to 2000. He is the Vice Chairman of the World Wildlife Fund US and serves on the Board of Directors of General Motors.

Benjamin Mkapa ICF Co-Chair and Chair of International Relations, was President of Tanzania from 1995 to 2005. He was previously Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Minister for Information and Culture and Minister for Foreign Affairs. He was also a member of the Commission for Africa.

Johannes-Jürgen Bernsen served on DEG, German Investment and Development Corporation, for more than 30 years in various functions, including seven years as the Managing Director.

Wolfgang Kroh served in KfW, the German policy and development bank, in various regional and managerial functions for 38 years. Currently he chairs REGMIFA, the Micro and SME Investment Fund for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Baroness Lynda Chalker is a UK politician with more than 30 years of experience in Africa. She served for 12 years as UK Minister for Africa and 8 years as Minister for Overseas Development. She now chairs Pasco Risk Management Ltd., has been a Board Member of Group Five Construction Pty in South Africa for 10 years, and is an independent adviser on Africa, investment and development through her company Africa Matters Ltd.

iCf board of Trustees

Neville Isdell

William Kalema

Benjamin Mkapa Wolfgang KrohJohannes-Jürgen Bernsen

Linah Mohohlo

Lynda Chalker

Nkosana MoyoSam Jonah Dipak Patel

ICF’s top governance body brings together a passionate group of outstanding achievers with rich international experience and a common vision of Africa’s bright future. The independent board of trustees is a blend of top African political and business heads as well as international leaders with a long-standing commitment to the continent.

Under the direction of President Benjamin Mkapa and Neville Isdell, this is an active board that meets every three months to decide and review the overall strategic direction and policy for ICF, as well as to monitor the operational performance of the organisation and its management team.

Sam Jonah is the Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital, past Executive President of AngloGold Ashanti. He is a Non-Executive Director of Vodafone Ltd., and the Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

Dr William Kalema is the former Chairman of the Boards of the Uganda Investment Authority and Uganda Breweries. He also chairs a number of charitable institutions in East Africa and was a member of the Commission for Africa.

Nkosana Moyo is the Executive Chairman of the Mandela Institute for Development Studies and the former Vice-President and Chief Operations Officer of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). He has held senior positions at IFC (World Bank Group), Actis and was Minister of Industry and International Trade for Zimbabwe.

Linah Mohohlo is the Governor of the Bank of Botswana. In her capacity as Botswana’s representative in the Board of the International Monetary Fund, she has served in the IMFC where she represented the Africa Group 1 Constituency. She is a member of the Africa Progress Panel, Investment Committee of the UN Joint Staff Pension Fund and served as a member in the Commission for Africa.

Dipak Patel is a former Minister for Commerce, Trade and Industry in the Zambia government. He was also Chair Coordinator of the Least Developed Countries World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations in 2005.





ICF funding is demand-driven and project activity requires a high level of involvement from partners on the ground.

Once a proposal for ICF funding has been accepted, a dedicated member of ICF’s Project Implementation team is designated to spearhead project implementation on the ground. From project planning and funding disbursement, through to assisting the team with implementation, meeting key milestones and finally evaluation, the

ICF Project Implementation team is on-hand every step of the way, with regular communications and visits with the in-country project management team.

ICF’s project implementation team is made up of highly experienced African professionals with backgrounds in both private and public sectors, who are experts in the continent’s business environment and well-versed in the idiosyncrasies of the different countries and cultures of its partners.

how could my organisation support iCf? Improving Africa’s investment climate is a collective effort. We welcome your financial and technical support whether you are from the public or private sector in Africa and beyond. Demand for ICF’s services is accelerating throughout Africa and in order to ensure sustainability, ICF requires more partners who can assist through funding, secondment of staff and the sharing of best practice and expertise.

Please visit our website www.icfafrica.org or get in touch through [email protected]

To merit ICF funding, a project application must meet the following guidelines:

Produce a significant positive impact on the investment climate within a reasonable period.

Involve the government and the local private sector.

Outline clearly defined, observable and measurable indicators to measure impact.

Reflect a broad range of interests (i.e. not a single business or narrow group of stakeholders).

Complement existing programmes and fill a gap.

Be part-funded by the respective government or organisation to ensure commitment to the improvement process.

get involved

how do you apply for iCf funding and support?

For African government leaders who wish to start an ICF project, you can apply for funding from ICF by downloading a project application form from www.icfafrica.org or by telephoning +255 22 212 9211 You can also email us at: [email protected] to request an application form.

The iCf project process

Government commitment is a pre-requisite to ICF intervention, as it is critical to the successful development and implementation of any initiative. Government commitment is needed to support changes to policies, to push the reform process faster, and for effective procurement. For this reason, ICF requires governments to provide counterpart funding to any financial commitment from ICF.

Capacity - having the right people on the ground is key to successful intervention. Partner governments need to identify a suitable project implementation team with the required skills to implement activity, adhere to ICF’s rigorous implementation schedule and flag any issues. The right resource is equally as important at the project management team level as the project steering committee – a group of public officials and private sector association professionals who act as the governing body for each project.

Private sector involvement is essential both in terms of generating demand for the project, and for the long-term success of intervention. The private sector is the key driving force of project intervention, pushing respective governments for reforms to be implemented.

Best practice sharing - imparting learnings from successful projects is a central part of ICF’s project strategy, and critical for rolling reforms out across the continent. ICF facilitates dialogue between partner governments to drive awareness of reform projects. In this way, ICF acts as a catalyst, triggering similar projects in other African countries keen to experience the same benefits of intervention.

From our extensive local experience the following have emerged as key factors for successful project implementation:



Investment Climate Facility for Africa2nd Floor, 50 Mirambo Street, PO Box 9114, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

T: +255 22 212 9211 F: +255 22 212 9210E: [email protected]

Contact

All rights reserved © ICF 2012

icf corporate brochure 2011_12

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