Green.org sat down with Richard Aduhene, Corporate Development Executive with a specialization in strategy, M&A and finance, to learn about his experience watching how sustainability is driving investment decisions in infrastructure acquisitions.
Richard, thank you for being here. Tell us a little bit about you and your background:
I am a british born Ghanaian, lived in Ghana for most of my childhood and moved to America for university. I completed my undergrad in Business Admin and then soon after moved to Ghana, to run the sales team for an internet service provider company. I soon after moved into investment banking, where I worked at Goldman Sachs managing due diligence for the middle East and Northern Africa for fixed income products. After working at Goldman for some years I moved to work for an infrastructure conglomerate focused on M & A, and eventually progressed to lead all investment and acquisition activity for the group.
What would you do with $1 Billion dollars?
Invest in solar generation on a large scale across Africa. I believe there is huge potential for the continent to lead in solar generation and contribute largely to the net zero agenda. Year-round sun on most parts of the continent combined with an increasing middle class and greenfield development potential make the continent a great bet whilst contributing to improving the economic situation for many African nations.
Why do you think sustainability is such an important topic today?
As global warming continues to impact the climate and as industrialisation continues globally, it has become extremely important to ensure that countries develop sustainably in order to ensure that there is a habitable planet for the generations to come. Globally, the world has become more aware as the impact of increased greenhouse gases as the long term effects have started to physically manifest globally. The increased awareness however has also had a knock on effect where sustainability has become an extremely important topic and most nations, now have some form of agenda surrounding the creation of policies to mitigate the effects of pollution.
What do you envision your industry looking like 10 years from now?
Sustainability driving most investment decisions in infrastructure acquisitions. There is still some potential to increase this in my industry today and believe in the future, it will progress that way. With the most recent project finance projects(for a solar and water plant) I completed at LMI holdings, sustainability was a key financial metric but I do believe that some more attention could and eventually would be even more scrutinised ten years from now.
What can the average person do to make a difference?
The average person can aim to be sustainably conscious about their consumption choices as well as their investment decisions. These two decisions truly drive and have an impact on society and hence the global sustainability agenda.