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The African Finance Corporation, a Lagos-based multilateral institution, has launched the African Project Developers Initiative (APDI), a think-tank and network to promote and enable project development in Africa.

According to a statement this week, the AFC said APDI is a platform for fostering continuous dialogue amongst members, standardizing project development documentation, developing market benchmarks, and enabling knowledge transfer. The platform will also facilitate independent research and serve as a policy advocacy forum.

The AFC said that one of the significant bottlenecks in unlocking Africa’s infrastructure is the development of viable projects that meet the viability and bankability tests of financiers. African project development itself has become a proven asset class, with an increasing number of projects successfully reaching financial close. Examples of such projects include Azura Power, Nigeria; Cenpower, Ghana; Cabeolica, Cape Verde; Henry Konan Bedie Bridge, Cote D Ivoire.

“There are huge opportunities for international investors in Africa if its much-needed large scale infrastructure projects are bankable,” said Oliver Andrews, AFC’s Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer. “As one of Africa’s leading project developers, AFC knows the challenges facing both developers and investors and has successfully negotiated them in the past to bring about some of the continent’s most significant infrastructure projects. APDI will combine our experience and expertise with that of our partners to create innovative solutions to the issues inherent with project development.”

Andrew Alli, AFC’s President/CEO, had announced the establishment of the APDI at the last edition of the Africa Investor Conference in 2015.

AFC said it would be collaborating with development partners such as The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) to have an APDI pre-launch round table meeting in May in Lusaka, Zambia during the Annual General Meetings of the African Development Bank. A formal launch is planned in September 2016.

Founded in 2007 with paid-in equity capital of $1.26 billion, the AFC has a mission to address Africa’s infrastructure development needs while seeking a competitive return on capital for its shareholders. To date the Corporation has invested over US$5 billion in projects across 22 African countries and in a wide range of sectors including power, telecommunications, transport and logistics, natural resources and heavy industries.

AFC’s shareholders include various African financial institutions (47.6 percent), the Central Bank of Nigeria (42.5 percent), and several industrial and corporate shareholders (9.8 percent).