In the latest edition of the FDI Excellence Series held by FDI Center and WAIPA, this FDI training course focused on how investment promotion agencies (IPAs) can attract quality foreign direct investment that provides the greatest potential benefit to their location.
During this two-day training, participants heard from a range of industry experts including: Arjun Sarkar, Senior Director of E-commerce Solutions and Partnerships at Dubai CommerCity; Dushyant Thakor, Senior VP of Invest India and Cristían H. Rodríguez-Chiffelle, former Executive Director of Invest Chile. FDI Center developed the program for the training course as part of our collaboration with WAIPA on the FDI Excellence Series, which has been running successfully since 2018. Andreas Dressler, Managing Director of FDI Center, delivered most of the sessions during the training and provided overall moderation.
Development of global FDI trends and how to stay ahead: day one insights
Day one kicked off with a session on global FDI trends with a focus on which sectors are generating the most projects and the types of companies that are looking to expand their international presence. The aim of this session was to advise IPAs on how they can make a customized and targeted plan to secure more quality foreign direct investment that is aligned with the economic and social goals of their government. Day one also featured a case study from Dubai CommerCity who, having branded themselves as a region for e-commerce, elaborated on how they have been able to successfully meet the needs of their target companies that they are seeking to attract to their e-commerce ecosystem.
Identifying quality over quantity: day two insights
On day two, participants gained knowledge on how to identify quality investors who have plans for specific kinds of foreign direct investment. Companies often have specific plans and requirements they need for facilities or projects. The panel of experts was able to advise how to identify what these are and how to position and market your region as a desirable location for this venture. To complement this, day two also included a session on providing value and how agencies can develop innovative types of support in response to the changing needs of investors.
To put this knowledge into practice, participants heard from two different types of investment promotion agencies; Invest India and Invest Chile. Invest India provided insights on how they has been able to attract quality FDI in the sector of electronics. Whereas Invest Chile explained how they changed critical functions of the agency to be able to successfully attract sustainable FDI.
Internationally applicable
The FDI training proved to be a success and participants from Lesotho, Indian, Ghana, Panama, United Arab Emirates, Nigeria and Azerbaijan gained valuable insights and practical skills for enhancing the quality of the investment that they can attract to their locations.
Training opportunities
As well as holding the Advanced FDI Leadership programme, FDI Center also provides customised training directly to investment promotion agency teams around the world. If you’d like to enquire about training opportunities for yourself or a team, please contact us at info@fdi-center.com.
