From Devex Impact

Last week’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit was supposed to bridge the gap between U.S. investors and African opportunities — so did it?

That depends who you ask.

“It was not a wasted week,” Mima Nedelcovych, president and CEO of the Initiative for Global Development, told Devex. “There was a lot of good discussion going on … I’m very pleased.”

Nedelcovych said that the side meetings between U.S. and African business leaders were particularly promising, with U.S. investment in the power sector and information and communications technology taking a front seat. And, he pointed out, the caliber of the African business leaders who were present was very high.

“The point is to get the serious folks there and they were there…The African business leaders came out in very big numbers,” noted the IGD chief.

But was it worth the trip?

Definitely not, according to Kola Karim, ranked by Forbes magazine as one of the ten most powerful men in Africa in 2014.

“If it takes 47 African leaders to come to America to get an announcement of additional $7 billion investment on the continent, I’m sorry, there is a question mark,” said the CEO of Shoreline Energy International, a Nigerian energy and infrastructure company. “If it takes African businesses to come all the way here, then I’m sorry.”

Karim explained that African business leaders came to Washington, D.C. in hopes of meeting up with their American counterparts — something that he felt did not happen.

“The big American businesses were not seen,” he said.

Read more at Devex Impact