From left: Banji Oladeji, NBF President, Dr Femi Ajayi of the Georgia Secretary of State office, Carol Pineau producer AIH, Ambassador Joseph Huggings, Fred Cleveland Founder Publishing Associates, Maette Udoinying, NBF, Dr Chamberlain Peterside, CEO New Era Capital.

he former US Ambassador to Botswana, Ambassador Joseph Huggings on Tuesday declared that Africa is the world's last frontier market and urged US investors to begin to take the continent seriously in order to benefit from investment opportunities there.

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The Ambassador stated this at the Atlanta premier of "Africa Investment Horizons" (AIH) documentary; the one-hour documentary, produced by Carol Pineau, director and producer of the award-winning documentary, Africa Open for Business, shows that Africa may be the next untapped investment destination. The event, which was hosted by the Nigerian Business Forum (NBF) at the Goizueta School of Business of Emory University in Atlanta, attracted a diverse and enthusiastic group of African and American audience, as well as the members of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, all keen on learning about investment opportunities in Africa.

The documentary was followed by a panel presentation on Investing in Africa: Capital Market and Private Equity opportunities. The panel which was anchored by Dr Chamberlain Peterside, CEO New Era Capital, afforded the audience the opportunity to learn from the perspectives of the panelists and also have their many questions answered. Dr Peterside, who has worked for Merill Lynch among other investment banks on Wall Street, revealed that plans are under way to introduce an index fund under S&P focused on top equities in Africa. The documentary featured Teresa Clarke Ellis, Managing Director, Investment Banking, Goldman Sachs, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Managing Director of the World Bank and former finance minister of Nigeria, Linah Mohohlo, Governor of the Bank of Botswana, Kim Jaycox, CEO Africa Fund I, Emerging Capital Partners, among others.

Earlier in his opening remarks, NBF President, Mr. Banji Oladeji stated that events like this help to demystify Africa in the eyes of potential (American) investors in Africa while also presenting the other side of Africa, the growth story, the investment opportunity and improving business climate, which is hardly talked about in mainstream media. A member of the audience Mr. Bolaji Dawodu of the Georgia State treasury department revealed that Georgia State treasury with more than USD2billion in the coffers will benefit from investing even a tiny portion of their money into African markets and urged panelists to find ways to present Africa to US State treasury departments and other institutional investors. Tunde Akintoye, a member of the panel walked the audience through the different ways to invest in African markets, highlighting the need to do due diligence and the suggesting what to look for in potential investment.

Dr Femi Ajayi of the Georgia Secretary of State Office in his closing remarks urged Africans to wake up and rise to the challenge of building the Africa continent. The event was sponsored by NBF with the energy and goodwill of her volunteers. NBF is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to raising the development of Africa and raising her investment profile. NBF was founded by Harvard Business School graduates 10 years ago and has members across the world.