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This article is part of a series produced in collaboration with the African Development Bank in light of its sixtieth anniversary. Please visit our dedicated portal to read about the Bank's history and its activities on the continent.
This year’s Africa Investment Forum, held in Rabat, Morocco from 4th to 6th December, once again highlighted the continent’s immense investment potential. Held under the theme “Leveraging Innovative Partnerships for Scale,” the forum attracted the widest participation ever since its launch in 2018. A total of 1,707 investors from 200 institutions across 83 countries attended the event.
Opening the forum, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, president and chairman of the board of directors of the African Development Bank Group, made a forceful call for more investment in the continent, urging investors to “believe the data” and not be swayed by the misperceptions about the continent. Africa, he noted, will account for a quarter of all people on the planet by 2050, boosting demand for goods and services on the continent.
High Forum Engagement Highlights Africa’s Unique Investment Momentum
“The demand for housing is expected to rise and make an investment opportunity of up to $1.4 trillion. The size of Africa’s food and agriculture market will rise to $1 trillion by 2030. Demand for infrastructure presents an annual investment opportunity of at least $170bn a year in energy, transport, infrastructure, water and sanitation, and many more,” he pointed out, adding that “Africa presents such a unique investment opportunity which cannot be ignored.”
Adesina, who received the “African of the Decade Award” at the closing ceremony, said the attendance at the forum, the highest in its history, was a testament to the opportunities for value creation on the continent. This year’s forum saw delegations from, among others, India, China and Japan, an indication of the Forum’s impact as well as the rising interest in opportunities on the continent. A 2024 survey by the Africa Private Equity Capital Association, Adesina said, had shown that 85% of limited partners plan to increase their allocation of private capital to Africa within two years, and 52% believe Africa’s private capital will be more attractive than other emerging markets within five years. With a significant share of key green transition minerals, the continent also has a unique opportunity to move up the electric vehicle production value, which is expected to grow from $7 trillion in 2030 to $59 trillion by 2050.
Morocco’s Minister for Economy and Finance Advocates for Structural Reforms
In a welcome address, Morocco’s minister for economy and finance, Nadia Fettah Alaoui applauded the founding partners of the AIF for the collective action to promote investment in Africa. “Today, more than ever, development partners are called upon to strengthen their strategic collaboration and work more as a system for more impact in the face of the growing challenges for African countries,” she stressed.
While acknowledging the efforts made to attract private capital, Alaoui noted that more work is needed to fully close the financing gap for the Sustainable Development Goals. Development partners, she said, must intensify support for structural reforms undertaken by African governments, promoting private initiatives and well-designed, financially viable projects. “These reforms should be accompanied by measures to strengthen macroeconomic fundamentals and improve the business environment, which would ultimately change the perception of risk and break down historical prejudices about Africa so the financial potential of private actors can be fully exploited,” she urged. Alaoui also urged global actors to work together to establish a more effective global financial safety net that provides quick and automatic access to liquidity, helping reduce investment risk premiums.
New Investor Commitments Total $29.5 bn, with Significant Agreements Achieved
Over the four previous editions, the AIF had attracted $180bn in investor interest and closed transactions totalling $30bn, in the process becoming the premier event for directing investment into the continent. After three days of boardroom discussions, this year’s market days at the AIF generated $29.5bn in new investor commitments in projects spanning a diverse range of sectors, including transport, power, energy, agribusiness, industry, mining, pharmaceuticals, private equity, tourism, urban infrastructure, water management, and water and sanitation. This was out of a total of $40.9bn in deals that were presented to investors in the 41 boardrooms that were set up during the forum. Among the showcased deals, 34 were investment-ready, while 7 remained in the early-stage phase, highlighting a diverse range of opportunities for potential investors.
A number of significant agreements were reached during the AIF. Seedstars Africa Ventures I, a venture capital fund targeting early-stage investments in scalable African start-ups, announced a first close of $42m, with support from the African Development Bank, EIB Global (under the EU’s ACP Trust Fund and Boost Africa initiative), and other global investors. The African Development Bank and Bank of Africa SA also signed a €50m risk-sharing agreement to boost private-sector financing and African trade, aiming to generate €200m in additional trade and support SMEs across over 20 African countries.
Another agreement was inked between African Development Bank Group, in partnership with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and institutional investors, to explore a multi-originator synthetic securitization transaction aimed at mobilizing private capital and de-risking African development finance institutions. The initiative builds on the success of the Bank’s $1bn Room to Run Programme and will create a platform to unlock lending capacity for high-impact projects across climate finance, infrastructure, and financial intermediation.
$6bn Mattei Plan Seeks to Create an Energy Hub
The AIF saw an agreement signed between SACE, an Italian insurance-financial group and the African Development Bank Group to provide credit protection and foster investment in Africa under the “Mattei Plan.” The agreement, part of a broader initiative by the Italian Government and the Bank, aims to support high-impact projects in sectors like infrastructure,
agribusiness, healthcare, energy, and education. The $6bn Mattei Plan, earlier unveiled by Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, seeks to strengthen economic ties and create an energy hub, with priority given to countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Morocco. SACE’s financial products, including the Push Strategy, will help connect African buyers with Italian SMEs, enhancing Italy-Africa business relations.
The AIF is an initiative of 9 DFIs including the AfDB Group, Africa50, Afreximbank, IsDB, DBSA, EIB, TDB, BADEA, and AFC. This year, it welcomed the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa into the fold of founders, further boosting its reach and impact.
