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Tag: blended finance

  • President Ruto, Samaila Zubairu and Africa’s Top Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO) to Headline The Africa Debate in London

    President Ruto, Samaila Zubairu and Africa’s Top Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO) to Headline The Africa Debate in London

    …The Africa Debate will convene over 700 senior decision-makers from across government, finance, and industry for a full day of high-level exchanges

     Invest Africa is pleased to announce Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as Headline Partner for the 11th edition of The Africa Debate, taking place on Wednesday, 2 July 2025 at the Guildhall, in the heart of the City of London.

    This year’s theme — “Harnessing Natural Capital for Growth” — seeks to interrogate how Africa can transform the scale and structure of investment around its most enduring assets: from its critical minerals and fertile land to its human ingenuity and demographic dynamism.

    Now firmly established as the UK’s premier forum for Africa-focused investment dialogue, The Africa Debate will convene over 700 senior decision-makers from across government, finance, and industry for a full day of high-level exchanges. Through keynote addresses, ministerial dialogues, and curated sector debates, the programme will explore how to turn extractive advantage into structural transformation — mobilising green industrialisation, digital infrastructure, intra-African trade, and new financial instruments to drive inclusive, climate-smart growth.

    This year’s speaker line-up reflects the extraordinary breadth of voices shaping Africa’s next chapter, from heads of state to the stewards of global capital. Highlights include: H.E. William Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya; H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe, Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia; Board Chair, TradeMark Africa; H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General, African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat; Benedict Oramah, President, Afreximbank; Samaila Zubairu, President & CEO, Africa Finance Corporation; Abebe Aemro Selassie, Director, African Department, International Monetary Fund; Solomon Quaynor, Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure & Industrialisation, African Development Bank; Strive Masiyiwa, Founder & Chair, Econet Wireless; Duncan Wanblad, CEO, Anglo American; Wale Tinubu, CEO, Oando Plc; Monique Gieskes, CEO, PHC; Marie-Chantal Kaninda, President, Glencore DRC; and more. The full programme is now available to view here (http://apo-opa.co/4ljJqbx), with detailed sessions on value chain transformation, blended finance, regional infrastructure, and Africa’s positioning in a multipolar global economy.

    Samaila Zubairu, President and CEO of Africa Finance Corporation, commented: “Natural capital is only as valuable as the systems that refine, protect, and elevate it. At AFC, we believe that infrastructure is the bridge between Africa’s resource richness and the continent’s ability to rapidly industrialise and take its rightful place on the global stage. Our partnership with Invest Africa and The Africa Debate underscores the need for thoughtful, long-term capital — deployed strategically — to unlock the continent’s full economic potential. We are proud to support a platform that challenges assumptions and catalyses bold, bankable solutions.”

    Chantelé Carrington, CEO of Invest Africa, added: “Africa’s path to prosperity must be built not on extraction, but on transformation. This year’s theme compels us to ask harder questions about how we steward the continent’s assets — human, natural, and institutional — in a world shaped by climate change, technological disruption, and shifting geopolitical priorities. With AFC’s visionary leadership, we are honoured to convene a dialogue that is ambitious in scope, rigorous in thought, and focused on meaningful outcomes.”

    Confirmed Sponsors of The Africa Debate Include: Africa Finance Corporation (Headline Partner), Absa Group, Afreximbank, FirstBank UK Limited, Invest KZN, Standard Chartered, Standard Bank Group, Plantations et Huileries du Congo, Lagos Free Zone (Tolaram), Octopus Energy, ServiceNow, Stellar Developments, Spiro, Safaricom, Premier Invest, Remittances Hub, S-RM, DLA Piper, and London Stock Exchange Group.

    To register as a delegate for The Africa Debate, please visit: https://apo-opa.co/4efWGM0. Places are limited and advance registration is essential.

  • “Crude Oil, Petroleum Products will Continue to be Important in Africa”- Wale Ajibade

    “Crude Oil, Petroleum Products will Continue to be Important in Africa”- Wale Ajibade

    With dual challenges of meeting rising demand while transitioning to a cleaner energy future, Africa’s downstream sector has been in the spotlight, and during the 2023 edition of the African Refiners & Distributors Association (ARDA) Conference – where the African Energy Chamber (AEC) is participating – this very challenge is being explored.

    During ARDA Week 2023, Wale Ajibade, Executive Director of Sahara Group, delivered a presentation on ‘Meeting Africa’s Growing Energy Requirements in the Evolving Global Landscape,’ with insight given into the continent’s downstream opportunities, future energies and the role Sahara continues to play in expanding the market.

    Kicking off his presentation, Ajibade emphasized that projected growth trends in Africa indicate an increase in energy demand over the next few decades, with demand expected to be driven by industrialization and urbanization and is expected to coincide with the global energy transition. Additionally, the rise in demand is projected to accelerate Africa’s deployment of downstream infrastructure to enable the continent’s energy independent and sustainability while serving to address energy poverty.

    According to Ajibade, Africa faces five challenges across the downstream sector. Specifically, the over-reliance on product importation, supply chain issues, oil theft and vandalism, fuel subsidy, and the energy transition. However, there are clear solutions to these challenges, which include, “investing in the construction of new refineries and the modernization and expansion of existing infrastructure; the creation of enabling environments for investment in infrastructure; leveraging technology to address pipeline theft and vandalism – such as drones and the internet of things –; regulating fuel subsidies; and pushing for gas to be used more predominantly including liquefied natural gas (LNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas for power, energy and transportation while adapting existing refineries to the changing landscape.”

    In addition to oil, Ajibade provided insight into the viable solutions for the future of Africa’s energy sector. Drawing attention to natural gas while identifying the role solar, wind and hydro will also play, Ajibade stated that with roughly 13% of global natural gas reserves based in Africa, the continent is expected to embrace gas in the coming years.

    According to Ajibade, while fossil fuels will continue to remain the major source of Africa’s energy demand, particularly through oil, it is expected that there will be a major shift towards a cleaner and more sustainable energy mix through the use of gas. In this scenario, natural gas will begin to play the role of bridging between more polluting fossil fuels and zero-carbon technologies, such as wind and solar. With factors such as a growing population, increased urbanization and economic expansion, as well as growth across the industry, commerce, manufacturing and agricultural sectors, Africa is projected to rely more and more on gas. However, challenges associated with a lack of investment, limited infrastructure, foreign exchange issues and limited knowledge on gas technologies continue to hinder resource maximization in some gas-rich countries such as Nigeria – which has put in place its Decade of Gas initiative to monetize resources.

    As the transition to cleaner sources of energy become increasingly important, Ajibade shared insight into Sahara Group’s operations and agenda, stating that as part of the company’s broader Environmental, Sustainability and Governance initiatives, Sahara continues to make investments along the entire gas value chain. On the upstream, the company invests in a gas-heavy portfolio and has begun the process of eliminating gas flaring across all its upstream assets. On the midstream front, the company has stakes in several LNG and gas ventures including four LPG vessels focusing on increasing LPG supply into West Africa. Meanwhile, on the downstream and consumption side, gas demand to the company’s power plants is expected to increase significantly by 2026.

    Additionally, Ajibade made note that over the past two decades, global investment in renewable energy has grown rapidly. However, Africa receives less than 3% of this investment. As such, Ajibade stated that to attract more investment and create enabling environments, a series of financial options can be implemented, including blended finance, green bonds, risk mitigation instruments, innovation and carbon markets. According to Ajibade, the creation of carbon markets in Africa could help countries develop mitigation projects while receiving climate-related investment, and with 24 countries already conveying an interest in this area, opportunities for trading carbon credit across several exchanges is in sight.

    Natural gas, downstream investment and carbon markets all represent key themes at the 2023 edition of the continent’s premier event for the oil and gas industry: African Energy Week (AEW). Taking place in Cape Town from October 16-20, this year’s edition of AEW is centered on deals, networking and collaboration, with a series of high-level panel discussions and presentations – similar to that of Ajibade’s – as well as investor summits and networking functions driving new engagement among financiers and project developers. Representing the AEC’s annual energy conference, AEW 2023 represents a not-to-be-missed event.