Some of the world's leading investors say Sierra Leone is one of Africa’s brightest opportunities.

Government officials were in Britain yesterday to promote its unexploited natural resources such as diamonds, oil, vast fisheries and arable land.

Billionaire financier George Soros said his development fund would invest an additional $5 million in the country, while the CDC, the British government’s investment fund, pledged a similar amount to benefit Sierra Leone based investment Fund ManoCap.

“These are not philanthropic investments but a hard-headed pursuit of opportunities. We are in Sierra Leone because we see great returns there,” said ManoCap’s chairman Lord Stevenson, in a report by Timesonline.

Formerly war-torn Sierra Leone now has a democratically elected government that has focused on improving the investment climate by streamlining tax administration, enacting a new companies law and cutting red tape. A new investment incentives schedule that favours investors will be unveiled soon, as well as enacting of a new Minerals Act to ensure greater transparency and a fairer deal for investors and local communities. 

“The potential of this country is truly extraordinary. There are millions of hectares of arable land, natural resources and hundreds of kilometres of virgin beaches, all on Europe’s doorstep,” said former prime minister Tony Blair to delegates at the investment conference in London.