Project Preparation: Johannesburg, South Africa

Developing projects in sectors, like energy, transportation, other infrastructure, industrial, public services (health and education), etc., is not just a technical task, but involves a full range of elements to develop a sustainable business model. This business model takes into account ownership structure, communities, understanding requirements for funding, capacity, technology, financial models, environmental and market analysis, etc.

Project developers, and their stakeholders, regularly find a heavier burden to bring all the necessary pieces together for projects in Africa. Many project developers find that having the technical capacity and/or connections is not sufficient to develop a bankable project.

The Project Preparation seminar is an introduction to the project development process, walking participant through the key elements, activities, and processes. It is particularly helpful for projects that are just an idea or in the early stages. Participants also receive tools and resources.

The content comes from the five-day workshop, “Developing and Structuring Bankable Industrial and Infrastructure Projects in Africa,” which helps build a comprehensive and holistic knowledge set within the project developer community in Africa. The five-day workshop focuses on developing the business model from idea through feasibility. (The follow-up practicum covers from idea through funding with a heavier emphasis on middle to late stage project development.)

The five-day workshop pays special attention to the early stage to middle stage project development process – from idea to feasibility – where a lot of time is wasted and gaps exist. The workshop is designed to assist project stakeholders to accelerate and be more efficient at managing projects. It also prepares project stakeholders for the remaining stages of the project development process.

The Project Preparation seminar provides a broad understanding of project development while the five-day workshop provides an in-depth methodology, tools, and resources which participant can use over and over again. Therefore, the five-day workshop is a natural follow-up to the Project Preparation seminar.

The Project Preparation seminar, and the five-day workshop, is suitable for government agencies, private sector, communities, developers, technical teams, and technical support agencies. The workshop, and other options, is also excellent for building holistic capacity in organizations that develop and/or support projects in Africa.

Seminar Modules

The following are the modules in Project Preparation:

• Introduction and Key Components of Projects
• Project Development Process and Project Definition
• Developing and Managing Projects: Idea to Concept
• Developing and Managing Projects: Concept to Prefeasibility
• Developing and Managing Projects: Prefeasibility to Feasibility
• Leveraging Key Stakeholders, Networks, and Value Chains
• Developing Project Ecosystems & Partnerships
• Developing and Managing Projects: Feasibility to Funding

The take-home seminar materials include templates for project definition, concept document, and internal project information memorandum, as well as in-depth webinar recordings providing additional details on the modules covered.

Project Preparation – abuja, NIGERIA