The 3rd Annual Africa GRI 2015 will take place in Johannesburg from 21-22 April. It is a day and a half event bringing together senior real estate investors, developers, lenders, and other professionals from across sub-Saharan Africa. Attendees participate in small discussion groups rather than panels to quickly network and identify potential partners or opportunities. With a maximum of 150 attendees, it aims to be the most exclusive gathering of real estate leaders in Africa. International interest in investing in African real estate is growing but challenges remain around data availability, currency instability, and large-scale opportunities.

1. JOHANNESBURG
21-22 APRIL
AFRICA
GRI2015
MEDIA PARTNERSINDUSTRY PARTNERSBRONZE SPONSOR
INTERVIEW WITH FULVIA D’IPPOLITO
Fulvia D’Ippolito • Director for Africa
+44 (0)207 121 5072 | fdi@globalrealestate.org
GRI – Global Real Estate Institute
The 3rd Annual

2. Africa GRI 2015 • Interview with Fulvia D’Ippolito
www.globalrealestate.org/Africa2015
J o i n t h e m o s t s e n i o r g a t h e r i n g o f r e a l e s t a t e l e a d e r s a t A f r i c a G R I
Q A&
Fulvia D’Ippolito
Director for Africa
GRI – Global Real
Estate Institute
1. What’s GRI Africa?
GRI Africa is a day and a half of intense
networking between real estate investors,
developers, lenders from across Sub-Saharan
African markets. They are also joined by large
retail and hotel groups, and major corporate
tenants. It’s the most senior real estate meeting
in Africa; a unique platform for international and
local players to meet, discuss and identify new
investment and development opportunities.
2. How is it different from other African real
estate investment events?
GRI is not a conference. Our format does not
have speakers or panels. Instead, those taking
part in the event can participate in many small
discussion groups, animated by a ‘Moderating
Chair’ and a selection of ‘Co-chairs’.
The informality and enjoyment of the debates is
like an after dinner conversation with friends in
your own home. This format allows you to quickly
make friends, find out what other people think
and immediately identify those 4-5 new potential
business partners or investment opportunities.
GRI meetings have been running for nearly
twenty years across the world.
All of our attendees are considered as ‘members’
of our club.
3. Why Africa GRI 2015?
The interest in Africa from our international
members Interest is strong, but they have also
identified many difficulties in approaching the
market. And that’s where Africa GRI can help.
GRI’s two previous annual meetings in Nairobi in
2013 and 2014 were a big success – drawing
investors from the US, Europe, Middle East and
Asia. Our international members asked us to hold
the 2015 edition in Jo’burg, as the start of an
ongoing geographical rotation of the event. But
let’s be clear; Africa GRI is not a South African
event. Far from it. It is truly pan-African, making
it not only the most senior real estate event in
Africa, but also the most diverse.
4. Who will be there in Jo’burg?
There is a ‘magic’ combination of exclusivity and
seniority; a maximum of 150 people and all
senior decision makers. The attendance is made
of balanced mix of investors, developers and
lenders, as well as some major hotel groups,
retailers and corporate tenants. Of course we
welcome some leading service providers as well.
To date we have already on board the likes of
Abraaj Group, Actis, China-Africa Development
Fund, Nile Investments, Eris, Phatisa, Lordship
Africa, Rendeavour, IFC, Jabilake. The list of
participants growth day by day and is available
to view on our site.
5. What are the main themes of the 2015 GRI
Africa edition?
The event is split into four different rooms, each
focusing on a geographic region; East, West,
Lusophone, and Central/Southern Africa. Sub-
Sectors discussed include hotels, offices, retail,
resi and mixed-use. We have also introduced
some exciting new features. This includes an
opportunity for developers to showcase their
projects (which will include the impressive Bay of
Luanda project in Angola), as well as specialist
workshops on investing via Mauritius, and also a
world-class tutorial for developers about
securing bank lending.
6. Do you think that international sentiment
towards the real estate African market is
changing?
Yes, albeit slowly. Although both Ebola and
terrorist threats have dominated the headlines in
2014, they seem to be less of a concern to
international investors who have a longer term
outlook. Of greater concern to many is a
perceived lack of reliable data, instability of local
currencies, and lack of institutional-scale
portfolio buying opportunities. The data issue is
certainly on the mend, with more and more
reputable groups providing access to
transparent, reliable information, and risk
mitigation – including JLL, who are expanding
their presence in the region. In terms of currency
fluctuations; well, that might not go away any
time soon. But, through a combination of
hedging and off-shoring – investors are finding
work-arounds. What is exciting investors is the
number of new, large scale projects in the
pipeline; many of which will be of institutional
grade. If the real estate community can work
effectively with their government and
infrastructure partners, then there will be some
huge projects coming to market in 2015/2016.