Past AEF delegates

Over 2000 delegates have attended the Africa Energy Forum, with around 50% coming from Africa. To take full advantage of the business opportunities provided by the forum, many organizations send more than one delegate.

• AEF2008 organisations who attended in Nice

• AEF2007 organisations who attended in Hamburg

• AEF2006 organisations who attended in Lille

• AEF2005 organisations who attended in Barcelona

• AEF2004 organisations who attended in Amsterdam

AEF 2008 analysis

AEF 2008 delegate analysis by activity

For the second year running, the largest sector represented at AEF was equipment suppliers, engineering, procurement & construction. It is often reported that this sector cannot meet global demand but yet they are present at AEF. Moreover most sponsors at AEF 2008 do not fall into this category. The next largest sectors were lawyers (11%), power developers (10%) commercial banks (9%), development banks (7%) and financial services (7%). Group all the finance companies together and they make up 24% of the delegates.
AEF 2008 also saw a significant increase in energy companies attending. This includes both renewable energy, which included 18 delegates, and oil & gas companies, accounting for 28 delegates. We also witnessed more interest from the mining sector (8 delegates) but a decline from the carbon trading companies (from six delegates in 2007 to zero in 2008).
Although the advisers & consultants sector make up a large number of participants, the number of delegates from this sector is down on previous years. There was a decrease in the number of government representatives at AEF 2008. This is not reflected in the number of African government officials that registered. Out of the 54 African participants that registered but did not attend AEF 2008, 35 were from African government and utilities. The decline in African officials attending AEF compared to last year was due to last minute cancellations. AEF 2007 figure was significant because of the large delegation from the Kenyan government (please see country analysis). African utilities attending AEF has not changed and remains high, as do electricity regulators.

Click here to view a chart of the AEF08 delegates by activity

AEF 2008 delegate analysis by country

Attendance at the Africa Energy Forum in 1999 was 162. Since its launch AEF has seen a steady increase in attendance. Attendance in 2008, the 10th AEF was 460. This is nearly 30 more delegates than in 2007.
Whereas delegates travelling from Europe rose from 210 in 2007 to 230 in 2008, delegates from Africa dropped slightly, from 183 in 2007 to 178 in 2008. At AEF 2008, Europe made up 50% of the delegates and Africa 39%.
The African country that saw the largest increase in attendance compared to last year was South Africa. Up from 71 in 2007 to 87 this year. South Africa accounts for 19% of all the delegates.
The delegates from other countries, have stayed more or less the same. The largest delegations being from Nigeria (20), Tanzania (12) and Mozambique (8).
The decrease in Kenya's participation was expected; the 2007 figure was inflated by a large delegation of Kenyan MPs visiting Germany at the invitation of the German government who also attended AEF 2007 in Hamburg.
As AEF was held in Nice it is natural that attendance from France also rose—indeed 55 delegates attended, an increase of 50% over 2007. Similarly, as AEF was not held in Germany this year, attendance fell, although Germany was still well represented at the forum. The United Kingdom still has the largest attendance of any one country.

This year 95 delegates came from the United Kingdom. There were also smaller but significant increases from Belgium and Italy. Austria and Denmark were not represented.
Although AEF fell on America's Independence Day it did not hinder Americans participation, which rose from 18 in 2007 to 28.
Canadians also increased their numbers. Delegates from the United Arab Emirates remained the same.

Click here to view a chart of the AEF08 delegates by country & region.