In Brief: The Future Hospitality Summit in Nairobi marked the debut of the Africa Hospitality Investors Council, an initiative backed by the Energy & Environment Alliance that aims to foster sustainable investment in the continent’s hospitality industry.
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Image Credit Future Hospitality Summit Africa
AHIC will operate as an independent body within the EEA framework, governed by its own dedicated Board but powered by the EEA
- AHIC will be Africa’s collective voice of capital committed to sustainable hospitality investment
- AHIC will operate as an independent body within the EEA framework
- The EEA will provide the legal, governance, and operational foundation that ensures AHIC’s international credibility and compliance with global standards
Today at the FHS Nairobi (www.FutureHospitality.com/Africa) the Africa Hospitality Investors Council (AHIC), announced its creation and launch. AHIC will operate as an independent body within the EEA framework, governed by its own dedicated Board but powered by the EEA.
AHIC aims to be Africa’s collective voice of capital committed to sustainable hospitality investment, ensuring Africa’s hospitality sector has a visible and credible presence in global investment dialogues. AHIC will contribute a coordinated investor perspective to policy and market dialogue, improving the conditions for long-term investment, strengthening market confidence and supporting sustained economic value creation.
AHIC’s mission in the fast-growing African hospitality sector is to help build the foundations for sustainable, bankable, and scalable growth by unlocking a deeper pipeline of projects as attractive investment opportunities across the continent – for Africa, by Africa.
With EEA, which comprises 50,000 hotel assets with a global footprint at an approximate value of US$400bn, AHIC will coordinate engagement directly between ministries of finance, planning, infrastructure, tourism, trade and investment, and investors in Africa’s hospitality sector.
The EEA provides the legal, governance, and operational foundation that ensures AHIC’s international credibility and compliance with global standards, while safeguarding its regional autonomy. Through the EEA Capital Markets Committee, AHIC will help shape how sustainability, transition risk, and resilience are priced in African hospitality portfolios.
Africa’s hotel and lodging sector is positioned for substantial growth, supported by powerful demographic trends and rising demand for quality tourism and hospitality assets, yet faces a number of issues such as fragmented regulatory frameworks, uneven risk–return visibility, gaps in infrastructure provision, and limited transparency and disclosure standards.
AHIC’s mandate is to strengthen Africa’s position within global capital allocation by:
- Aligning investor perspectives with national and regional priorities for trade, tourism and economic growth, strengthening clarity on where and how capital can be deployed.
- Informing policy and regulatory frameworks through coordinated market insight, reflecting the realities of investment, development and operations across African markets.
- Advancing transparency, comparability and governance standards, enabling more consistent assessment of risk and strengthening investor confidence
- Supporting cross-border alignment of investment conditions, engaging with the African Union and Regional Economic Communities, including SADC, COMESA, AND ECOWAS to reduce fragmentation and improve market coherence
Hospitality assets form part of Africa’s export and trade architecture and considered economic infrastructure. They generate foreign exchange, enable mobility, activate local supply chains and create employment at scale. As one of the largest employers in the region and a significant source of revenue for national economies, the hospitality sector is key to Africa’s successful development. AHIC is committed to ensuring its investments benefit all segments across the local hospitality value chain. This includes AHIC working with its members to deliver low-carbon buildings, enhancing the motivation, benefits and training for all employees, reducing consumption of energy, water and resources, and the efficient management of waste. AHIC is dedicated to supporting the development of local talent and positively impacting job creation with quality job opportunities, helping to transform lives of local communities.
AHIC will aim to deliver four strategic outcomes:
- Mobilise African and global capital through a coordinated investor voice.
- Influence government policy to unlock investable projects.
- De-risk capital deployment across the hotel value chain in Africa.
- Strengthen transparency, disclosure, and procurement systems.
AHIC’s founding members are:
- Mossadeck Bally, Azalai Hotels Group
- Kamal Bensouda, Atlas Hospitality Group
- Ewan Cameron, Westmont Hotel Group
- Lara Dupre, Aichti Hotels
- Hamza Farooqui, Millat Investments
- Olivier Granet, Kasada Capital Management
- Sophia Lopez Benhamida, RISMA
- Paul Mack, Latitude Hotels
- Julien Renaud, Onomo Hotels
- Jameel Verjee, CityBlue Hotels
- Graham Wood, V & A Waterfront
AHIC will be a permanent, investor-led council — coordinating private capital alongside sovereign wealth funds, development finance institutions and multilateral partners.
