“Capital follows trust”: US Ambassador on what turns Africa’s resources into industrial growth
Interview by ENN. Quote attributed to John Giordano, United States Ambassador to the Republic of Namibia.
Africa’s industrial future will be decided less by what lies under the ground than by what is built above it, according to John Giordano, United States Ambassador to the Republic of Namibia, speaking at the Africa Energy Forum in Cape Town.
Giordano framed industrialisation as a connectivity story rather than a resource story. The real value, he argued, comes from connecting resources to the markets that need them, which is how the United States built its own economic strength over its history. He said the US now stands ready to support that work in Africa, pairing institutional finance such as the DFC and EXIM Bank with private investment and the American logistics expertise already operating on the ground.
He pointed to Namibia as a model of how this is done well. The country is building the physical infrastructure to move its resources, including developments in the Orange Basin, but it has also built the regulatory framework that signals to investors a frontier market is ready for them. “Capital follows trust,” he said. Sophisticated investors do not gamble, and Namibia is showing the world that both its materials and the money behind them are secure.
Asked about the single most important investment needed today, his answer came back to the same idea. Investors need confidence that they are putting money into a transparent country governed by the rule of law, one that has taken the time to build proper regulation, and it is that stability which allows capital to follow.
Giordano placed the forum at the centre of that effort, describing AEF as the place where the right people gather and the conversations that move industrialisation forward actually begin, along the Southern African energy corridor through Walvis Bay and out to market.
