International business leaders and investors head to London annual Invest Sierra Leone forum

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 18 November 2017

On Monday 20th November, an audience of national and international business leaders and investors will gather in London to hear Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister Dr Samura Kamara deliver the keynote speech at the annual Invest Sierra Leone forum for the third year running.

Invest Sierra Leone is the only annual forum dedicated to investment in Sierra Leone and regularly attracts an outstanding line-up of Sierra Leone’s business and investment power brokers.

As well as Dr Samura Kamara, this year’s headline speakers include Sierra Leone’s Attorney General – Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara; the Deputy Director General of NASSIT – Amara Kuyateh; Paul Kunert the CEO of Joule Africa; and David Smith, the Chairman of the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund amongst others.

Invest Sierra Leone was conceived and launched at the House of Commons in 2015 by Dr Samura Kamara and Insight – Sierra Leone’s dedicated business and investment magazine and media platform.

It is endorsed by SLIEPA and is intended to provide a regular space for:

• business leaders interested in investing in Sierra Leone and in need of clear and reliable information
• companies already invested in Sierra Leone eager to share their experiences, and the unique challenges and opportunities of Sierra Leone’s business environment
• experts from the world of policy engaged in shaping the economic landscape

In 2016 the leading global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills – came on board and the forum is held at their central London premises.

Under the theme ‘Investment in Sierra Leone – a tradition of innovation’, this year’s Invest Sierra Leone will raise awareness about both traditional and newer investment opportunities, discuss innovative financing approaches, and facilitate investment and business partnerships.

The British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Guy Warrington said: “As Sierra Leone’s only annual forum dedicated to investment in the country, Invest Sierra Leone plays a major role in highlighting the important investment opportunities here.
This year’s Invest Sierra Leone theme is ‘a tradition of innovation’. Innovation turned into commercial application is at the heart of the economy of the UK. It is just as important for the economy of Sierra Leone.

“Investment is key to any country’s development, and we welcome the importance the Government of Sierra Leone has placed on FDI. The government has demonstrated a commitment to reforming trade and investment polices to encourage private sector-led economic revitalisation. The President has repeatedly said that the nation’s economic growth will be driven by the private sector rather than solely through public sector activities and development assistance.”

Invest Sierra Leone has become a regular event in the annual investment calendar. It identities innovative approaches to investment in Sierra Leone and facilitates in-depth discussion with government ministers, CEOs, financiers and the country’s most successful business and investment pioneers.

Insight

The Insight team has over 30 years of combined experience in communications, media and investment promotion, and has led successful publications across Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean, forming trusted relationships with governments and leaders of industry.

Aimed at Sierra Leone’s existing and future business-minded individuals, Insight promotes the initiative, creativity, vibrancy, sheer doggedness and drive for change that is at the heart of Sierra Leone’s business sector.

Our aim is to drive progress within Sierra Leone’s private sector by telling its story and creating a platform to share information. Sierra Leone is a country of entrepreneurs. Insight creates a unified platform that allows Sierra Leone’s business community to communicate regularly with each other, and provides the tools to help existing businesses and start-ups, multinationals and SMEs maintain a critical edge in a country where great opportunities and unique challenges coexist.

Herbert Smith Freehills

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is a leading global law firm with over 3,010 lawyers, including 476 partners, in 26 offices worldwide. HSF’s Fair Deal Sierra Leone initiative was established in 2010 to deliver free, expert legal advice to the Government of Sierra Leone to support the management of growing volumes of foreign direct investment.

Over 90 lawyers across our firm have provided more than £1.5 million worth of assistance to the GoSL to date. The Fair Deal programme has grown to offer policy and legislative advice, training programmes, document drafting, contract review, deal negotiation support, and assistance on disputes.

Support is provided at all levels, across all disciplines, and from offices across our global network. A number of our associates have spent time on secondment to the Attorney General’s Office and the PPP Unit of the President’s Office in Freetown. HSF has continued to provide pro bono legal advice to the GoSL throughout the Ebola crisis, including on the commercial implications of the outbreak.

In addition to its pro bono work with the Government, HSF has advised in relation to a number of significant investments into the country in recent years, witnessing at first hand the gradually increasing levels of foreign investment as the Agendas for Change and Prosperity have been rolled out.

We look forward to continuing to build on the Fair Deal initiative and our support for Sierra Leone as the country returns to economic growth.

SLIEPA

The Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SLIEPA) is the Government agency supervised by the Ministry of Trade and Industry responsible for the co-ordination, promotion and generation of foreign and domestic investments, and also the development of traditional and non-traditional exports diversification, value addition and provision of support to Small and Medium Enterprises.

For more information on Invest Sierra Leone 2017

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