Foreign Investment Attraction Training Course

Duration 10 days 19 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Investment Promotion Agency Managers, Economic Development Officials and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-PP-046

Before you join: Participants should have some professional exposure to economic development, investment promotion, trade, industrial policy, business regulation, infrastructure planning or investor services.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Foreign investment attraction is a public-sector growth function with high stakes. Investment promotion agencies, ministries and subnational authorities must identify investable opportunities, compete credibly for projects, coordinate permits and infrastructure, manage incentives, and retain investors after establishment. Poor targeting can waste public funds; weak aftercare can allow productive investors to expand elsewhere. Effective programmes connect national development priorities with the practical decisions investors make on costs, skills, market access, regulation and project delivery.

This course equips participants to design and run an evidence-based foreign direct investment attraction and retention programme. Participants assess their location’s investment proposition, select priority sectors and investor segments, map investment barriers, build lead-generation campaigns, qualify prospects, manage investor projects, structure aftercare, and measure results. The course examines policy reform, investment facilitation, responsible business conduct, incentive governance, stakeholder coordination and investment pipeline management.

Teaching combines practitioner briefings, public-sector cases, group analysis, investor-meeting simulations and structured work on each participant’s jurisdiction or mandate. Cases cover manufacturing, financial services, renewable energy, agribusiness, digital services and infrastructure-linked investment. Participants build components of an investment attraction programme throughout the course, receiving peer and instructor review. They leave with a practical investment attraction and retention plan, supported by a target-sector case, investor value proposition, pipeline design, service standards and performance measures.

The course suits professionals responsible for investment promotion, economic development, industrial policy, export and investment agencies, special economic zones and public-private investment facilitation. It is also relevant to officials whose work affects investor decisions, including regulators, infrastructure agencies, licensing authorities and local governments.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess a jurisdiction’s foreign direct investment position using location and investor decision criteria
  • Select priority sectors and investor segments through market screening and strategic fit analysis
  • Develop a differentiated investor value proposition supported by credible evidence
  • Build an investor lead-generation pipeline using account-based targeting and qualification criteria
  • Manage investor enquiries and project facilitation through documented service standards
  • Design an aftercare programme that identifies expansion opportunities and investor barriers
  • Evaluate investment incentives using fiscal cost, additionality and performance conditions
  • Present a complete foreign investment attraction and retention plan for a defined jurisdiction

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce defensible sector and investor targeting recommendations for senior decision-makers
  • Run investor meetings with clearer qualification questions and follow-up discipline
  • Translate investor concerns into specific policy, infrastructure and service actions
  • Assess incentive proposals beyond headline job and capital expenditure claims
  • Build a portfolio of practical investment promotion documents for future assignments

For your organisation

  • Improves focus of investment promotion resources on priority sectors and credible prospects
  • Creates more consistent investor service from first enquiry through post-establishment support
  • Strengthens coordination between promotion agencies, regulators, utilities and local authorities
  • Reduces poorly justified incentive commitments through structured appraisal criteria
  • Generates management information on leads, projects, realised investments and expansion risks

Course modules

19 modules over 10 days

Participants can explain how foreign direct investment decisions and investment promotion mandates shape public-sector action.

  • Foreign direct investment flows, stocks, greenfield projects, and reinvested earnings
  • Distinguishing FDI from portfolio investment, trade, aid, and domestic expansion
  • Investor decision chain from location screening through establishment and expansion
  • IPA mandates, governance models, statutory powers, and accountability arrangements
  • Additionality, displacement, and fiscal cost concepts for public investment decisions
  • National, regional, and municipal roles within an investment promotion system

Participants can diagnose investment climate strengths, weaknesses and priority constraints using structured evidence.

  • PESTLE analysis for political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental factors
  • Benchmarking investor costs, timeframes, and regulatory requirements against competitor locations
  • Mapping the business lifecycle from market entry to expansion
  • World Bank Business Ready indicators as evidence for reform discussions
  • Investor perception surveys, structured interviews, and grievance data collection
  • Constraint prioritisation using impact, feasibility, ownership, and implementation time

Participants can define a credible location proposition grounded in investor-relevant evidence.

  • Location quotient analysis for identifying concentrated economic activity and capabilities
  • Cost benchmarking covering labour, utilities, logistics, land, and taxation
  • Assessing workforce availability, skills pipelines, productivity, and wage progression
  • Infrastructure readiness criteria for power, water, broadband, transport, and sites
  • Market access analysis using trade agreements, tariffs, and transport corridors
  • Evidence packs that substantiate location claims during investor engagement

Participants can select priority investment sectors using transparent strategic and market criteria.

  • Sector longlisting from national plans, export data, and investment trends
  • Market attractiveness and competitive position matrix for sector selection
  • Value chain mapping to locate investable activities and supplier gaps
  • FDI market intelligence using announced projects, investors, and destination patterns
  • Scoring sectors against jobs, exports, technology, resilience, and feasibility
  • Priority-sector business cases with assumptions, risks, and implementation needs

Participants can identify and prioritise investor accounts that fit sector and location strategy.

  • Investor segmentation by motive, value chain role, ownership, and expansion stage
  • Market-seeking, efficiency-seeking, resource-seeking, and strategic asset-seeking investment motives
  • Ideal investor profile criteria covering capabilities, scale, fit, and credibility
  • Account lists built from industry databases, supply chains, and project announcements
  • Lead scoring models combining strategic fit, propensity, and engagement signals
  • Decision-maker mapping across corporate headquarters, regional offices, and advisers

Participants can formulate targeted investor value propositions and supporting communications.

  • Value proposition canvas adapted for corporate location and investment decisions
  • Translating location assets into investor benefits, proof points, and differentiators
  • Sector propositions tailored to specific investor archetypes and project models
  • Investment pitch structure: opportunity, evidence, operating model, and next steps
  • Handling weak comparative positions without unsupported promotional claims
  • Fact sheets, site profiles, and investor briefs with traceable source data

Participants can structure an investment promotion strategy with clear priorities, responsibilities and resources.

  • Theory of change linking promotion activities to investment and development outcomes
  • Strategic objectives expressed through sectors, markets, investor types, and timeframes
  • Operating model choices for national agencies, regional offices, and partner networks
  • RACI matrix for promotion, facilitation, aftercare, policy advocacy, and communications
  • Annual workplans connecting targets, campaigns, budgets, and account responsibilities
  • Risk registers covering political change, reputation, delivery capacity, and competition

Participants can design lead-generation campaigns that create qualified investor conversations.

  • Account-based marketing principles for targeted business investment attraction campaigns
  • Outreach sequences combining research, messages, referrals, events, and follow-up
  • Email and meeting requests framed around investor priorities and evidence
  • Intermediary engagement with site selectors, consultants, chambers, and embassies
  • Trade missions assessed against target accounts, objectives, and conversion measures
  • Campaign calendars aligned with investment cycles, industry events, and budgets

Participants can manage investor relationships through defined stages, records and governance routines.

  • CRM pipeline stages from prospect identification through project realisation
  • Lead qualification using BANT criteria adapted for investment project decisions
  • Opportunity records capturing project scope, timeline, location criteria, and stakeholders
  • Contact plans defining owner, next action, promised response, and escalation
  • Pipeline review meetings using weighted projects, ageing, and conversion metrics
  • Data governance for investor confidentiality, access rights, and record quality

Participants can design investor facilitation processes that reduce delays and clarify accountability.

  • Investor journey mapping across registration, licensing, land, utilities, and construction
  • Service charters specifying response times, ownership, escalation, and communication standards
  • Single-window models, referral systems, and coordinated case management
  • Project facilitation plans for complex permits, infrastructure, and agency dependencies
  • Issue logs separating investor requests, policy barriers, and delivery risks
  • Service-level metrics for responsiveness, resolution time, satisfaction, and project progress

Participants can appraise investment incentive proposals using transparent economic and fiscal criteria.

  • Tax holidays, grants, land concessions, and customs relief mechanisms
  • Additionality tests distinguishing incentive-driven investment from planned investment
  • Cost-benefit analysis including fiscal revenue, jobs, spillovers, and infrastructure costs
  • Performance-based incentives tied to employment, investment, exports, and training
  • Clawback clauses, reporting duties, verification rights, and termination provisions
  • Incentive governance committees, approval thresholds, and conflict-of-interest controls

Participants can convert investor evidence into prioritised investment policy and regulatory reform proposals.

  • OECD Policy Framework for Investment diagnostic areas and reform questions
  • Regulatory impact assessment for proposed investor-facing rules and procedures
  • Administrative burden measurement using steps, documents, fees, and elapsed time
  • Public-private dialogue structures for evidence-based business environment reform
  • Reform roadmaps assigning legal, administrative, budgetary, and institutional actions
  • Tracking reform implementation through milestones, owners, and investor validation

Participants can integrate responsible investment criteria into promotion, facilitation and retention activities.

  • UNCTAD Investment Policy Framework principles for sustainable development-oriented investment
  • Environmental and social risk screening for promoted investment projects
  • Responsible business conduct expectations covering labour, community, and supply chains
  • Gender-responsive investment promotion criteria and sex-disaggregated employment measures
  • Climate resilience, resource efficiency, and decarbonisation within sector propositions
  • Development impact indicators for jobs, skills, suppliers, exports, and emissions

Participants can assess investment sites and special economic zones against investor requirements.

  • Special economic zone models, mandates, incentive regimes, and governance structures
  • Site readiness assessments covering title, zoning, utilities, access, and environmental permits
  • Industrial land inventory records with parcel data, costs, and availability
  • Master planning links between investor demand, infrastructure phasing, and financing
  • Developer, utility, and local authority coordination for project delivery
  • Zone marketing claims tested against operating conditions and service capacity

Participants can establish an aftercare programme that protects existing investment and stimulates expansion.

  • Aftercare segmentation by investor value, growth potential, and risk profile
  • Key account management plans for strategic foreign-owned investor operations
  • Structured company visits using expansion, barriers, workforce, and supplier questions
  • Early-warning indicators for downsizing, relocation, delayed investment, and disputes
  • Expansion opportunity identification through product lines, markets, and capacity plans
  • Investor grievance mechanisms with escalation protocols and closure verification

Participants can identify local linkage opportunities that improve investment retention and development outcomes.

  • Supplier capability mapping against investor procurement requirements and quality standards
  • Buyer-supplier matchmaking based on demand profiles, capacity, and certification gaps
  • Local content policies assessed for feasibility, compliance costs, and trade obligations
  • Workforce partnerships connecting investors, training providers, and labour market institutions
  • Reinvestment cases built from investor performance, expansion plans, and constraints
  • Spillover measurement covering supplier contracts, skills transfer, and technology adoption

Participants can create performance measures that distinguish activity, project and development results.

  • Results frameworks linking inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, and impacts
  • Pipeline metrics covering qualified leads, projects, conversion, and investment value
  • Realised investment verification using company evidence, permits, and financial data
  • Jobs measurement distinguishing announced, created, retained, direct, and indirect employment
  • Attribution rules for agency contribution, partner roles, and investor decisions
  • Management dashboards for board reporting, ministerial briefings, and operational decisions

Participants can coordinate public and private stakeholders around priority investment projects and reforms.

  • Stakeholder mapping by authority, interest, influence, incentives, and delivery capacity
  • Project steering committees with mandates, decisions, meeting cadence, and escalation
  • Memoranda of understanding defining contributions, confidentiality, and governance arrangements
  • Critical path analysis for permits, infrastructure, recruitment, and commissioning milestones
  • Issue escalation protocols for interagency conflicts and investor-sensitive decisions
  • Ministerial briefings presenting choices, trade-offs, risks, and recommended actions

Participants can build, review and present a complete foreign investment attraction and retention plan for a defined jurisdiction.

  • Jurisdiction diagnosis integrating competitiveness evidence, constraints, and stakeholder responsibilities
  • Priority sector rationale supported by market data and strategic fit
  • Investor account strategy with segmentation, target lists, and outreach approach
  • Value proposition, facilitation standards, and aftercare model for selected investors
  • Implementation roadmap specifying governance, budget, milestones, risks, and performance indicators
  • Peer review against evidence quality, feasibility, public value, and delivery readiness

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Foreign investment attraction and retention plan template
  2. Priority-sector scoring and investor targeting model
  3. Investor value proposition and pitch deck structure
  4. Investment project pipeline and CRM data model
  5. Investor facilitation service charter and escalation checklist
  6. Aftercare account plan and performance dashboard

Who should attend

  • Investment Promotion Agency Managers — responsible for attracting, facilitating and retaining foreign investors
  • Economic Development Officials — translating growth priorities into investable sector propositions
  • Ministry Policy Officers — shaping investment policy, incentives and investor-facing reforms
  • Special Economic Zone Managers — marketing sites and coordinating investor establishment services
  • Local Government Development Directors — preparing locations for domestic and foreign investment projects
  • Business Environment Reform Specialists — removing regulatory barriers identified by investors

Skills and tools covered

FDI strategy designSector targetingInvestor pipeline managementInvestment facilitationInvestor aftercareIncentive evaluation

Tools and standards

OECD Policy Framework for Investment, UNCTAD Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development, World Bank Business Ready, ISO 31000

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by cases drawn from investment promotion agencies, economic zones and public-sector reform programmes. Participants analyse location data, investor profiles, incentive proposals and service bottlenecks in small groups. Simulated investor discussions and project-management scenarios develop practical judgement. Structured application planning allows participants to build material for their own jurisdiction or mandate. Instructor feedback focuses on evidence, feasibility, institutional responsibilities and presentation to senior public-sector stakeholders.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have some professional exposure to economic development, investment promotion, trade, industrial policy, business regulation, infrastructure planning or investor services. They should be comfortable reading basic economic and business information, such as sector data, company profiles and policy documents. Experience in an investment promotion agency is useful but not essential. No finance qualification, advanced economics training, legal specialism or prior foreign direct investment deal experience is required. Participants are encouraged to bring a current sector priority, investment project challenge or jurisdictional strategy.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should understand the basic responsibilities of public-sector economic development, regulation, trade or investment functions. Prior work in an investment promotion agency or direct investor-facing role is helpful, but not required.

Bring any available sector strategy, investment promotion plan, investor enquiry process, site information or recent investment challenge. These materials can be used to develop a practical plan during the course, although they are not mandatory.

It is designed for investment promotion, economic development, industrial policy, special economic zone and investment facilitation professionals. It also suits officials in agencies whose permits, infrastructure or regulations affect investor decisions.

The course focuses on corporate location decisions, investment project pipelines, establishment support, incentives and investor retention. Trade promotion concentrates on exporting, while broader economic development courses may not cover investor account management and project facilitation in this depth.

Participants can use the sector prioritisation criteria, investor qualification process, service charter and aftercare tools with current projects. The capstone plan provides a structured basis for internal discussion, stakeholder coordination and annual work planning.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The first week builds diagnosis, targeting, proposition and pipeline skills; the second week covers facilitation, incentives, aftercare, measurement, coordination and the capstone presentation.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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