The most recent WAIPA World Bank Group Global Survey 2021 on the state of investment promotion agencies (IPAs) found that some of the most critical challenges alongside budgetary, financial and bureaucratic issues is human capital. This is particularly true for IPAs in developed countries, where staff capacity is seen as critical factor for success. In fact, 80% of IPAs claim that this factor challenges their performance, while in developing countries the number falls to 56%, as they face more challenges regarding budgets and bureaucratic procedures.
Moreover, IPAs are obliged to work with partner institutions. In the same survey, 57% of respondents claimed a lack of capacity or knowledge of partner entities. Both issues can be successfully tackled by constant capacity building as undertaken by both WAIPA and UNCTAD.
This workshop looks at the successful strategies taken by IPAs to engage in capacity building and how holistic approaches, allowing other entities and practitioners to benefit from capacity building on investment promotion matters, can play critical roles in serving stakeholders and investors more effectively. We will discuss investment drivers and how they link to landing, facilitation and retention services, what investor life-time value is, how collaboration and connectedness fuels FDI, as well as the five key skills for a career in FDI.
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