By Adonis Byemelwa
The Africa CEO Forum will bring together African business leaders and policymakers in Kigali on May 14–15, as pressure mounts for the continent to ramp up industrialisation and deepen economic integration in a global order that is changing fast.
The summit, co-organised by Jeune Afrique Media Group and the International Finance Corporation, is expected to draw more than 2,000 participants from over 75 countries. Organisers have positioned the meeting as a turning point in Africa’s economic strategy.
Under the theme “The Scale Imperative: Why Africa Must Embrace Shared Ownership”, the forum will call for governments and private investors to share pools of capital across borders and support regional industries. The message arrives at a moment when global investment flows are being remade, and competition between the world’s leading economies is intensifying.
“If Africa wants to compete in the world driven by scale, it needs to think beyond economic patriotism and assume a new model: African capital investing together,” Amir Ben Yahmed said.
Organisers said the continent had demonstrated resilience, pointing to improved sovereign ratings and strong capital mobilisation by development finance institutions. The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank group, announced it pushed $71.7bn into private companies and financial institutions in developing countries last fiscal year, the most ever.
But the forum’s core demand for what it calls “shared ownership”, cross-border equity investment and integrated infrastructure, is set against a backdrop of continued fragmentation among African economies, uneven regulatory arrangements and limited trade across the continent.
“The challenge now is to deploy that capital at scale,” said Makhtar Diop, noting that would take building trust and sharing risk across borders.
The meeting in Kigali will be held a decade after talks started for the African Continental Free Trade Area, which is seen as a flagship initiative to create one big market on the continent.
Although the agreement has been almost universally ratified, implementation has varied widely, and barriers related to logistics and regulation continue to slow some regions.
The forum is likely to concentrate on three areas: boosting cross-border investment to create large African corporations, building common infrastructure that ties regional markets together, and harmonising regulations to ease the movement of capital and goods.
But even with the push, it’s not clear how quickly such measures can be put in place or how risks linked to cross-border investments will be handled. Past iterations of the forum have resulted in pledges and partnerships related to investment, though it isn’t always clear how much they have led to large-scale change.
Organisers say this year’s meeting will focus on getting actual commitments from governments and private sector leaders. “Shared ownership, cross-border partnerships and continental ambition will set the course for Africa’s economic future,” Ben Yahmed added.
