African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com) and the Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC) co-hosted a Joint Project Preparation Facility (JPPF) workshop in Maseru, Lesotho, to help address investment gaps in project preparation and to highlight the critical role of project preparation.

Organised under the theme “Leveraging Project Preparation to Boost Trade and Investment in Lesotho,” the workshop that was held on 21 June 2024 attracted participation from Lesotho’s key government ministries, departments and agencies, captains of industry, policy makers, regulators and representatives of commercial banks.

The workshop is part of Afreximbank’s continued push for the development and implementation of high-quality projects across Africa. It highlighted some of the challenges faced by project developers and sponsors in preparing projects and how these can be addressed by accessing financing from project preparation facilities. Notably, the workshop examined the critical role project preparation facilities can play in unlocking investment inflows into Lesotho and closing out the prevalent infrastructure and investment gaps.

Mr. Zitto Alfayo, Head of Project Preparation at Afreximbank represented Mrs. Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President Intra Africa Trade and Export Development (IATED), Afreximbank. He noted that such interventions will promote industrialization and export development activities in Lesotho thereby catalysing sustainable growth in the priority sectors as outlined in Lesotho's National Strategic Development Plan II.

LNDC Interim CEO, Mr. Molise Ramaili emphasized that the JPPF collaboration was implemented at a time when his organisation is in the process of rolling out a strategy anchored on collaboration as a form of competitiveness, to leverage the strengths of like-minded players in economic development at local and regional levels. He challenged the Lesotho private sector to engage more with LNDC and Afreximbank to advance their projects to bankability and investment readiness.

The workshop followed the establishment of a Joint Project Preparation Facility (JPPF) partnership between Afreximbank and the LNDC in November 2022 with the overarching objective of increasing the number of investment-ready projects available for private sector investment in Lesotho.