Browsing: FDI

I remember landing in Mozambique over a decade ago to an atmosphere of excitement. Foreign companies at that time had recently discovered major natural resources.
It was the time of the “coal rush” in the northern province of Tete and the initial gas discoveries in the Rovuma basin. It was the beginning of a long journey that years later would see the country start one of the largest LNG projects in history. I have always said that development would happen and be sustained by four pillars. Like dominoes they would fall sequentially, pushing each other in the following order: natural resources; infrastructure; industry and commerce; and agriculture.

I have been approached many times by investors looking for agriculture projects, but time and again the business model fell because there wasn’t the infrastructure to make it viable. Similarly, investors in industry would remark that many projects would simply not have enough …