Trading places: Dubai Chamber chief Hamad Buamim

Hamad Buamim recalls having a meeting with the chief executive of the Hong Kong General Chamber of COMMERCE back in 2007.

“He told me that he knew Dubai is the gateway to the Gulf and the Middle East, but that it would add a lot more value to the Far East if Dubai is the gateway to Africa,” he says. “And that’s really how the whole thing really started.”

Seven years on, and the lessons of that conversation have clearly been learnt. Buamim, the president and chief executive of the Dubai Chamber of COMMERCE and Industry (DCCI), which represents the private sector in the emirate, has been spearheading a drive into Africa that has already resulted in steadily rising trade between Dubai and perhaps the world’s biggest frontier market.

The reasons for the growing ties with Africa are clear. The continent contains six out of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies. But foreign direct INVESTMENT is still not matching up to the obvious opportunities on the ground. The African Development Bank thinks that as much as $93bn needs to be spent every year on infrastructure on the continent up to 2020, although only about half of this is actually coming through.



If you then look at the deep pockets of investors in the Gulf, who are looking to deploy their cash outside the region, as well as the interest from Asian investors who see Dubai as a gateway to Africa, then the opportunities are clearly significant.

This week, at the Africa Global BUSINESS Forum, seven African heads of state will be speaking in Dubai, alongside three prime ministers and seven other ministers. Other speakers include Blackstone Group chairman Stephen Schwarzman, Colony Capital boss Tom Barrack and Air Asia supremo Tony Fernandes.

“The whole world is looking at doing BUSINESS with Africa, but at the same time, the whole world is also finding challenges in Africa too,” Buamim adds. “Information is key, and that’s one thing we’re trying to address through this forum.”

Of course, many Gulf firms have already trodden a path to a series of African nations. Earlier this year, Al Futtaim Group bought a majority stake in one of Kenya’s biggest car dealerships. Dubai’s DP World, the third-biggest ports operator on the planet, runs seven terminals on the continent. Retail giant Majid Al Futtaim is thinking about building Dubai-style malls with ski slopes in countries like Angola, Mozambique and Kenya. In early September, the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) bought a $300m stake in Dangote Cement, a firm run by Africa’s richest man. Ras Al Khaimah’s Julphar recently opened a pharmaceuticals MANUFACTURING plant in Ethiopia. And logistics firm Aramex has been busily buying up assets in East Africa.


But while individual companies are INVESTING heavily in Africa, the region’s sovereign wealth funds have not followed suit in quite the same emphatic fashion.