Nearly 90% of the labour force in sub-Saharan Africa is engaged in informal with around 60% engaged in agriculture. Formal wage work is mainly limited to services, while manufacturing represents less than 5 % of jobs. Unless addressed, these trends risk serious social and economic instability in the form of economic migration and civil unrest, as an increasing proportion of the population reaches working age.

HIV and AIDS have already reduced national economic growth by between 2-4% across Africa.  These and other infectious diseases account for more than a third of all fatalities in the region. Sub-Saharan Africans also suffer from the highest maternal and child mortality rates (200,000 maternal and 2.7 million child deaths a year). We are committed to ensuring that investments in healthcare and agribusiness are a key part of our investment portfolio.

Access to Energy is a key driver of economic growth and sub-Saharan Africa lags behind the rest of the world in this respect. The region has 13 percent of the world’s population, but 48 percent of the share of the global population without access to electricity. We prioritise investments that encourage cleaner sources of energy, more efficient equipment and those that reduce or reverse harm to the environment.