Chi Jianxin

President, China-Africa Development Fund

The CADF has passed its first birthday. Announced to much fanfare at the 2006 China-Africa summit, it was formally established in June 2007 by the China Development Bank. The 50-year fund now manages US$1 billion, an amount that will later rise to $5 bn. The Chairman of the Board is the politically well-connected Vice-Governor of the CDB, Gao Jian. The public face of the fund is Chi Jianxin.

Once the director of CDB's Investment Banking Department, Chi now receives a warm welcome on trips abroad. He eyed agriculture projects in Liberia 19-23 April and promised to spend $5 bn. on agriculture over the Fund's lifetime.

Equity funds in China are still a fledgling industry. CDB had assembled just four before the CADF, by far the largest of them. It focuses on agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure. Sensitive to criticism of China's motives, Chi downplays any interest in mineral resources and points out that the fund does not pursue controlling stakes. He describes the fund as 'for-profit, but not only for profit'. Such sensitivity did not prevent him from discussing an increase in Chinese investment with Mustafa Osman Ismail, an adviser to Sudanese President Omer Hassan el Beshir, when Ismail visited Beijing on 7-11 July.

Among the Fund's investments to date: a ferrochrome plant in Zimbabwe (with Sinosteel), a glass factory in Ethiopia (with CGC Overseas Construction) and a power station in Ghana (with Shenzhen Energy Investment).

Upcoming projects include a US$90 million partnership - with CGC Overseas Construction, Sinosteel, China Building Materials and Shenzhen Energy Investment - to create a construction materials manufacturer in Africa. In total, the CADF plans to spend US$300 mn. in Africa in 2008.