A new focus report, produced by Oxford Business Group (OBG) in partnership with Groupe Ascoma, a company of Chedid Capital, explores the increased focus on compliance, transparency, and ethical practices in the West and Central African markets as the region looks to attract investment for its economic development.

Titled “West and Central Africa: Governance, Risk Management and Compliance”, the focus report provides an in-depth analysis of key issues relating to financial services, infrastructure and insurance, against the broader regional socio-economic landscape, in an easy-to-navigate and accessible format, featuring essential data and infographics.

Subscribers will find detailed coverage of the key role that private sector players such as Ascoma are expected to play in driving change and instilling a culture of insurance and reinsurance across business communities by identifying risks common to the region and providing effective, tailored solutions to them.

The report also maps out specific areas of the economy in which governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) principles are being given added weight, including mining, infrastructure and power, and the financial services industry.

It also shines a spotlight on the way that doing business is evolving across the region’s economies at a time when ECOWAS and CEMAC members are keen to source funding for a vast range of intra-continental and domestic infrastructure projects.

As such, it contains focus on the developments undergoing in Gabon, Cameroon, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.

In addition, it includes contributions from key representatives such as Farid Chedid, Chairman and CEO, Groupe Ascoma, and Samaila Zubairu, CEO, Africa Finance Corporation.

In his commentary, Farid Chedid explains the importance GRC principles for the economic stability of West and Central Africa.

‘’West and Central African markets require significant inflows of foreign direct investment, and need to be able to grow and create formal jobs for their relatively young populations,’’ he said.

‘’Investors prioritise governance and risk manage­ment, and boards of directors have an important role to play in this regard. Technology has had an important effect in catalysing GRC imple­mentation in Africa, but will never replace the board's role. Proper governance is not always straight­forward in some African markets, which negatively impacts risk management and compliance (…).’’

Bernardo Bruzzone, OBG’s Africa’s Regional Editor, said that GRC trends are at various levels of development in West and Central Africa, as are enforcement and penalty structures.

‘’Progress is being made on all fronts, primarily led by the central banks of regional economic unions and alliance organisations.’’

“In spite of this, changes still need to be implemented to further improve the business climate and meet the requirements of investors who are asking for tighter regulations and greater transparency. The positive impact that GRC trends could have on West and Central Africa’s potential as investment destinations is more than evident’’, Loehman said.

“Governance Risk and Compliance in West and Central Africa” is part of a series of tailored studies that OBG is currently producing, which includes ESG Intelligence and Future Readiness reports, and other highly relevant, go-to research tools, such as country-specific Growth and Recovery Outlook articles and interviews.

Click here to subscribe to Oxford Business Group’s latest content and click here to download the report.