Senior policymakers, investors, and development finance leaders gathered on Thursday for the 2025 Africa Investment Forum (AIF) Market Days, united by a pressing mission: mobilizing the capital Africa needs to meet rapidly growing infrastructure and climate-related demands.
The high-level session, titled “Innovative Finance Instruments Powering Africa’s Sustainable Transformation,” delivered a resounding call for unconventional investment solutions. Moderated by Zineb Sqalli, Partner and Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group, the panel opened with a stark projection. By 2050, Africa will welcome one billion additional people—over half in urban centres—yet currently invests just $75 billion of the $150 billion required annually for infrastructure.
The climate-finance gap is even more severe. While the continent needs $300 billion each year to address climate challenges, it receives only $30 billion. Sqalli emphasized that although the gap is daunting, it represents a significant opportunity for innovation through blended finance, Islamic green bonds, diaspora investment vehicles, and modern infrastructure platforms.
Setting a decisive tone, Dr. Obaid Saif Hamad Al-Zaabi, Chairman of the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development, called for a complete rethinking of how Africa finances its food systems. With climate pressures intensifying across Africa and the Arab world, he urged leaders to treat the food-security value chain as a strategic investment class.
“Climate change is no longer just an environmental concern—it is a financial risk on our balance sheets,” he warned. Al-Zaabi advocated for stronger guarantee mechanisms, expanded sustainable finance instruments, and specialised vehicles tailored to smallholder farmers, whom he described as the “engine” of the continent’s food ecosystem. He also underscored the importance of digitalisation to reduce information gaps and strengthen investor confidence.
Addressing broader investment readiness, Amadou Hott, Chairman of the Africa Advisory Board of Vision Invest and former Senegalese Minister of Economy, identified the shortage of bankable projects as one of Africa’s biggest obstacles.
“If we want to transform the continent, we need to multiply our current efforts by 100 or even 150,” he said, calling for stronger project-preparation capacity and urgent solutions to currency-risk barriers. Hott also encouraged African governments to mobilise more domestic capital—including sovereign wealth funds, pension assets, and national reserves—much of which is currently invested offshore.
Dr. Nasser Al-Kahtani, Executive Director of the Arab Gulf Programme for Development, stressed the importance of inclusive finance in meeting the continent’s development goals.
“Seventy percent of the food we eat comes from small farmers. They save the world, but cannot feed themselves,” he said. He called for blended-finance models that accelerate the shift “from grants to investment” while building long-term equity for micro-entrepreneurs.
Offering a private-sector lens, Jacques Kanga, Director and Head of Finance at Algest Investment Bank, explained how innovative instruments could mobilise private capital to close Africa’s annual infrastructure funding gap—estimated between $130 billion and $170 billion. He highlighted the potential of infrastructure SPVs that reduce sovereign risk, blended financing that lowers overall project costs, and diaspora-backed products that tap into the $95 billion Africans abroad remit each year. These mechanisms, Kanga said, reinforce governance, accountability, and investor trust.
On the regulatory front, Ouns Lemseffer, Partner at Ashurst, acknowledged notable progress across Africa in adopting advanced securitisation and sustainable-finance laws. These frameworks now enable project bonds, Sukuk, debt funds, and innovative financing models supporting electrification programmes like Côte d’Ivoire’s Programme Électricité Pour Tous. However, she cautioned that progress is uneven, urging policymakers to adopt a holistic approach—from investment regulations to bankruptcy frameworks—to fully unlock long-term capital markets.
As the panel concluded, a unified message emerged: innovative finance is essential for Africa’s sustainable future. The continent’s demographic expansion, climate challenges, and infrastructure needs demand bold financial instruments capable of mobilizing capital at scale. With a clear strategic direction and growing political will, panelists agreed that Africa is poised to convert its vast opportunities into transformative, investable projects.
By Wilberforce Kwasi, Communication and External Relations Department
Email: media@afdb.org
