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As Nigeria and Ghana’s economies continue to diversify, the countries' property sectors are once again attractive to regional and international real estate investors, says Kfir Rusin, the Managing Director of API Events, the host of the 5th West Africa Property Investment (WAPI) Summit taking place on 26 & 27 November, 2019, in Lagos.  

“These markets have progressed and evolved amidst tough trading conditions.” Adding that this year’s theme, ‘Uncovering the Next Real Estate Investment Cycle’, was developed with buy-in from local and international stakeholders, who believe that West African Real Estate is now increasingly attractive to DFI’s, Private Equity Firms, institutional and global investors.”

With more than 400 delegates attending and 70 speakers confirmed, including several globally respected thought leaders, this year’s WAPI Summit will again advance the real estate agenda across the West African real estate value chain. This year’s global investment keynote speaker is REITWAY Global’s Chief Investment Officer, Garreth Elston.

With more than $75 million under management, Elston comments that while REITWAY Global’s investment strategy is focused on global listed property stocks, he is beginning to prioritize emerging asset classes.  

“We invest across the full spectrum of global listed property companies, currently this is in excess of twenty sectors and sub-sectors. We currently have a particular focus at the moment in logistics and warehousing, as well as technology sectors such as data centres and communication towers,” he says.   

With investment in warehousing and data centres by WAPI Summit stakeholders such as Agility Africa and Rendeavour, the region’s real estate ecosystem is increasingly diversified and sophisticated; yet it requires transparency, regulatory and policy certainty to attract and retain investment, comments Rusin. This process formalization is a key focus for API Events across Africa and a measurable outcome of each successive WAPI Summit over the past five years.

Despite growing sophistication and development in the regional market, West Africa’s markets need to take note that competition for investment is hyper-competitive and jurisdictionally agnostic, says Elston.

“Markets are competitive for FDI investment globally, and if there is no respect for regulatory certainty, property rights and freedom of capital movement, they will continue to play second place to markets that provide investors with the most attractive destination,” says Elston.

And while West African property markets do not have the same amount of liquidity in their markets, Rusin believes that the high percentage of international speakers, delegates, and sponsors, as well as the more than $1 billion raised and deployed by API Events’ stakeholders this year, provides tangible evidence that a new investment cycle in Africa has begun.

As Rusin comments, “In addition to Gareth Elston, we have secured speakers from across Africa and internationally, such as Agility Africa’s CEO Geoffrey White, and others, who are all motivated to network with fellow stakeholders in one of Africa and the word’s most attractive and fast improving markets.”

For Elston, a first-time speaker for API Events, the WAPI Summit provides an opportunity for him to achieve his objectives of meeting and sharing insights on property with regional real estate stakeholders.

As Rusin ends, “This is API Events’ 5th WAPI Summit, and our tenth year of operating across Africa, and we’re able to leverage our credibility of creating world-class deal-making events for investors, developers and operators. As such, this year’s Summit and Expo is our biggest West African event to date, with more than 200 companies represented and over 40 sponsors and exhibitors with more to come.”