’African governments must unleash the strong entrepreneurial spirit of Africa's people. To promote this, donor governments and the private sector should coordinate their efforts behind the proposed Investment Climate Facility (ICF) of the African Union's NEPAD programme.'

ICF was formally launched at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town on 1 June 2006, and became fully operational in July 2007. It is designed as a facility to catalyse change and aims to have made a substantial and lasting impact after seven years of operation.

ICF and its supporters believe that an improved investment climate is crucial if Africa is to reach the core Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living on less than US$1 a day by 2015, which in itself is dependent on achieving a sustained economic growth rate of 7 per cent a year. ICF is not a development organisation - we are firmly and exclusively focused on improving Africa's investment climate - but if we achieve our goals, the benefits for civil society and Africa as a whole will be enormous.