US-Africa Leaders Summit yields scores of business deals in diverse fields

Business from the United States and different African countries announced nearly 15 new commitments during last week’s US-Africa Leaders Summit, in fields ranging from mining to healthcare to basketball.

One of the biggest deals made at the summit was an investment by US-based Kobold Metals, which will be “a commitment of over $150 million dollars into Zambia’s mining sector,” according to Gina Raimondo, US Secretary of Commerce. “I think this is a model of what we need to be doing more. It’s a big deal.”

Kobold Metals will be working with the global mining investment firm EMR Capital and Zambia’s public/private mining company ZCCMIH.

“This investment is in copper and cobalt, which are critical minerals to gravitating us from carbon-driven fuels to green fuels. Electric vehicles, that’s what we are talking about,” Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said at the signing ceremony. Cobalt is an ingredient in lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, tablets, laptops and smartphones.

Also, two financial institutions — US EXIM Bank and the African Export-Import Bank known as Afreximbank — moved from intention to action when they signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU). “It’s a MoU for collaboration to support trade and investment between Africa and the US with special focus on diaspora engagement,” Afreximbank’s President and Chairman, Benedict Okey Oramah, said. “We have an envelope of $500 million dollars attached to that MOU.”

The National Basketball Association was also at the summit to announce its ventures into Africa. The league’s Africa CEO Victor Williams said that while Africa NBA is happy to grow the game of basketball on the continent, there’s more: “We are also interested for sport to be a driver in economic growth and development as well as for sport to be a vehicle of social impact.”