The African Private Capital Association (AVCA), led by Chief Executive Officer Abi Mustapha-Maduakor, has called for stronger sustainable investment in Africa, with private capital leaders gathering in London on 15 October 2026 to explore how infrastructure financing, domestic investment and local industrial development can strengthen the continent’s economic resilience.
The discussions took place at AVCA’s fifth Sustainable Investing in Africa Summit, held at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower under the theme Built to Last: The New Global Reality.
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The gathering brought together investors, fund managers, business executives and development finance representatives to consider how African economies can withstand global shocks while creating lasting economic value.
At the centre of the discussions was a call to move beyond investment models that prioritise extracting raw materials towards an approach that supports local processing, infrastructure development and competitive African businesses.
Mustapha-Maduakor said sustainable investment remained essential despite changing global attitudes towards environmental, social and governance considerations.
“While sustainability is being questioned, redefined, or deprioritised in some parts of the world, it has never been more relevant in Africa,” she said, adding that it was “far more than an investment label; it is a vital pathway to resilience and long-term value creation”.
She also challenged investors to reconsider the cost of inaction, asking whether Africa could afford not to invest sustainably.
The summit came against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions, shifting trade relationships, climate pressures and rapid technological change.
Participants argued that these developments were creating new opportunities for Africa to strengthen its position in global supply chains, energy markets and industrial production.
British A. Robinson, Chair for Africa at the Milken Institute, said the changing global landscape offered African countries greater room to establish strategic partnerships across regions.
“Africa is now a swing actor. It can partner with anyone,” Robinson said. “Africa is not just choosing the US, or choosing a particular country in Asia. It can choose the world, and the world can choose it.”
The remarks reflected a broader argument throughout the summit: African economies could gain greater negotiating power by diversifying their international partnerships and developing stronger domestic production capacity.
Matthieu Ducorroy, Head of the Equity and Funds Division at the European Investment Bank, also emphasised the interconnected interests of Africa and Europe, observing that “the resilience of Africa goes hand in hand with the resilience of Europe”.
The European Investment Bank’s wider engagement on the continent provides context for that relationship.
The institution reported that its EIB Global arm invested €3.1 billion in Africa in 2025, supporting areas including sustainable energy, transport infrastructure, water, health and financing for small and medium-sized enterprises.
A major theme at the London meeting was the need to transform Africa’s resource wealth into broader economic benefits through local manufacturing, industrial development and stronger supply chains.
Saima Rehman, Senior Investment Officer for Private Equity Funds at the International Finance Corporation, said the continent needed to shift towards retaining more of the economic value generated by its natural resources.
“The true transformation of the continent lies in shifting from an extraction economy to a localised supply chain economy,” Rehman said.
She explained that keeping raw materials within African economies for processing could support sustainable employment, strengthen domestic businesses and expand government revenue through a more resilient tax base.
The discussion highlighted a longstanding challenge for resource-rich African economies: possessing valuable minerals and other commodities does not automatically translate into broad-based prosperity.
Achieving that outcome also requires reliable power, transport networks, industrial facilities, skilled workers and access to finance.
Participants therefore called for patient, risk-tolerant capital capable of supporting infrastructure and businesses over longer investment periods.
Tokunboh Ishmael, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Alitheia Capital, argued that resilience must extend beyond individual companies to the systems that enable businesses to operate and grow.
“True resilience isn’t just about fortifying individual businesses anymore,” Ishmael said. “It’s about financing the infrastructure and value chains that allow those businesses to survive and scale.”
The summit also examined the infrastructure required to support Africa’s growing digital economy, particularly as businesses and governments adopt artificial intelligence and other data-intensive technologies.
Harriet Adinkrah, Investment Principal at 4DX Ventures, said investment in digital services needed to be matched by physical infrastructure within the markets those services were intended to serve.
“To power our digital future, hard infrastructure like data centres must be built directly within the geographies they serve,” Adinkrah said.
She argued that locally based data centres could improve access, reduce latency and support data sovereignty, while helping African businesses deliver more effective digital services to consumers.
The emphasis on physical infrastructure extended to climate adaptation, where speakers highlighted the need for financing structures that could attract domestic institutional investors.
Rachel Moré-Oshodi, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investment, pointed to the potential role of pension funds in financing long-term infrastructure projects.
She noted that inflation-linked investment characteristics and longer maturities could help align infrastructure investments with pension funds’ long-term liabilities.
The discussion reinforced the importance of developing local sources of finance alongside international investment, particularly for projects requiring substantial upfront funding and extended repayment periods.
Adesuwa Ladoja, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Lagos Free Zone, challenged international investors to reconsider how they assess risks across African markets.
“There are trillions of dollars globally waiting to be deployed, yet the traditional models used to assess risk create a formula that will consistently give you the wrong answer for Africa,” Ladoja said.
She cautioned against evaluating projects from a distance without sufficient understanding of local conditions, arguing that more informed assessments were necessary to unlock investment opportunities.
Her remarks underscored a central tension in financing African development: while investors must manage genuine commercial, regulatory and currency risks, overly broad assumptions about the continent can also obscure differences between individual countries, sectors and projects.
The summit concluded with a call for greater collaboration between investors, businesses and development partners, with AVCA emphasising the need to move beyond isolated transactions towards investment platforms capable of delivering wider economic impact.
Rhoda Mhango, Head of Strategic Initiatives and Stakeholder Engagement at AVCA, said realising Africa’s potential would require practical partnerships and a willingness to rethink established approaches to risk.
“Africa’s opportunity is significant, but realising its full potential requires more than recognition,” Mhango said.
“It requires the right partnerships, a willingness to think differently about risk, and a shared commitment to addressing the barriers holding back the growth and investment we want to see.”
The summit’s message was ultimately one of opportunity tempered by the need for execution.
Sustainable investment in Africa will depend not only on attracting capital but also on directing it towards projects that improve productivity, create jobs, strengthen local businesses and deliver durable economic benefits.
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For African economies seeking a stronger position in an increasingly competitive global environment, the challenge is to turn investor interest into productive capacity, ensuring that the value generated by the continent’s resources, infrastructure and digital transformation reaches businesses and communities across the region.
