-By Kenny Folarin
The Managing Director of Lagos Deep Offshore Logistic Base LADOL, Dr. Amy Jadesim has said that her industrial base which is 100% indigenous economic zone has attracted Investors with USD 500 million into the Zone, transforming a hitherto disused swamp into a world class integrated logistics and the largest fabrication yard in West Africa.
Dr. Amy who stated this at the 19th edition of the International Economic Forum on Africa on the theme: “African Integration: Investing in our common future”, recently in Madrid said LADOL is currently focusing on tackling high value activities, taking on projects that have never been done in Nigeria before which opens up the market and has a multiplier effect on job creation of between 5 to 10, i.e. for every 1 job created in LADOL, 5 to 10 are created outside LADOL.
She also stated that the company is now leveraging revenues from servicing the petroleum sector to complete the development of the remainder of the Zone as a completely sustainable ecosystem and circular economy.
She added that this development highlights the importance of supporting real private sector indigenous companies – “because only indigenous companies will have the stamina, staying power and passion to build new businesses over ten to twenty years. 80% of the 680 million new jobs the world needs will be created by SME’s and larger indigenous companies such as LADOL.
This means it is imperative that development finance institutions (DFIs) and other investors in Africa directly fund private companies in Africa. To date, the vast majority of funds have gone through intermediaries, with most of the direct funding going to multinationals operating in Africa – this has to change if we want to build a sustainable world and maximise returns to investors.”
The dialogues throughout the day built on the findings of the Africa’s Development Dynamics 2019: Achieving Productive Transformation report, which is the first economic report produced by the African Union Commission, in collaboration with the Development Centre.
The Forum was organised by the OECD Development Centre and the African Union Commission, in collaboration with Casa Árabe, Casa África and the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation.