IHC targets capital bottlenecks
CLOUDINE MATOLA
Africa’s persistent capital gap is driven not by a shortage of money, but by a lack of credible, investor-ready projects, the Investor Hosting Centre (IHC), has said.
IHC is positioning itself as a regional project origination and capital hub.
In an interview, IHC chairperson Elias Hwenga stated that significant pools of capital across Zimbabwe and the region remain idle because projects consistently fail to meet institutional investment standards.
“The challenge is not the absence of opportunities, but the absence of credible, investor-ready projects and disciplined platforms capable of originating, preparing, vetting and structuring those projects to institutional standards,” Hwenga said.
He explained that Zimbabwe alone has capital sitting on the sidelines in pension funds, banks, development finance institutions (DFIs), and diaspora networks, while projects struggle to reach bankability. Established as a private-sector intermediary, the IHC operates as a controlled gateway between capital providers and projects.
“We are not a deal board and we are not a promotion agency. Our work happens before investors enter the room,” he emphasised.
Diverging from traditional investment promotion focused on pitching, the IHC concentrates on upstream project origination, preparation, and filtering. Projects are rigorously screened against defined criteria for bankability, governance, and risk before being presented to investors.
Hwenga noted that many African projects fail not due to a lack of potential, but because of weak governance, unrealistic financial assumptions, and poorly articulated risks.
“Investors don’t expect zero risk. They expect understood and managed risk,” he said.
The IHC model aims to reduce transaction friction by standardising documentation and filtering out weak proposals early, thereby shortening due-diligence timelines for investors. The centre is deliberately structured to operate regionally, aligning its strategy with economic corridors and value chains rather than political borders.
“Capital does not move according to political boundaries. It follows mandates, corridors and value chains,” Hwenga stated.
While the IHC does not deploy capital or manage funds, it plays a crucial facilitative role in structuring projects to DFI standards, enabling private capital to follow anchor investments.
“Our role is facilitative, not balance-sheet driven. We prepare projects to a level that DFIs are comfortable anchoring, which reassures banks, pension funds and family offices,” Hwenga explained.
Ultimately, Hwenga said the IHC’s success will be measured by tangible outcomes rather than visibility.
“If projects from Zimbabwe and the region are consistently reaching financial close, if investors are returning to the platform and pipelines remain active across borders, that would demonstrate credibility,” he concluded.
