Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
African policymakers, regulators and capital-market leaders have called for stronger domestic capital mobilisation, deeper financial-market integration and improved access to financing for energy and infrastructure projects, as the continent confronts a financing gap that threatens to slow its economic transformation.
The call was made at the inaugural Africa Capital Week 2026, held at the Argyle Grand Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, from September 7 to 11 under the theme, “Deepening Capital Markets to Advance Africa’s Economic Sovereignty.” The five-day forum brought together more than 500 delegates from at least 16 African countries, including policymakers, securities exchanges, institutional investors, private equity firms, multilateral organisations and development partners.
The Director-General of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr. Emomotimi Agama, highlighted the role of deeper capital markets in mobilising financing for development and strengthening economic resilience. He emphasised the importance of greater cooperation among African capital markets and measures to improve investor confidence, particularly in supporting infrastructure and other long-term investments. At a session on financing renewable energy and climate change, the Lead for Business Performance and Joint Venture Assets at NNPC Limited, Olamide Efosa-Austin, said Africa needed an integrated approach to financing its energy future. She argued that the continent’s energy transition should not be reduced to a choice between conventional and renewable energy sources, noting that energy policy and financing must also address industrialisation, energy security, employment and economic growth. “Africa does not have the luxury of an either/or energy transition,” she said. Efosa-Austin called for increased mobilisation of domestic and institutional capital alongside international investment to expand Africa’s participation in global energy financing, stressing that capital deployed on the continent must generate long-term economic value.
The scale of the financing challenge was underscored by data presented at the forum. Achieving universal electricity access in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2035 requires approximately fifteen billion dollars in annual investment, yet funding remains below two and a half billion dollars a year. Nearly 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity, and a twenty-year energy asset in West Africa can face financing costs of 12 to 15 per cent, compared with 4 to 6 per cent in Europe. The African Energy Bank, established with an initial capitalisation of five billion dollars and seed funding of five hundred million dollars from member states including Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, began operations in June 2026 with a mandate to address the continent’s energy financing deficit, estimated at between thirty-one and forty-five billion dollars annually. The bank aims to mobilise up to ten billion dollars in its first phase, with longer-term projections targeting one hundred and twenty billion dollars in assets within three to five years.
The forum also addressed the challenge of connecting available capital with credible projects. Cyrell Wagunda, Principal Secretary for Public Investments and Assets Management in Kenya, said Africa must improve the quality of public investments while creating an environment capable of attracting institutional and private investors. “Every shilling, Naira, Rand, Kwacha or Dollar invested should deliver measurable economic and social returns. Simply put, we must invest better before we invest more,” he said. Wagunda called for greater emphasis on proper planning, rigorous project appraisal and effective monitoring, as well as diversification of development financing through instruments such as infrastructure bonds, infrastructure investment trusts and asset-backed securities. He cited Kenya Pipeline Company’s recent initial public offering at the Nairobi Securities Exchange as an example of how capital markets can expand investment opportunities and enable governments to recycle capital towards new development priorities. Africa’s expanding pension, insurance and sovereign investment assets, he said, present a significant pool of capital that can support development if matched with credible and investment-ready projects.
A key outcome of the forum was the adoption of the Nairobi Declaration for Deepening Africa’s Capital Markets, which sets out commitments covering regulatory cooperation, greater integration of African securities exchanges, development of an Africa Bankable Projects Pipeline and mobilisation of institutional capital for infrastructure. The declaration mandates the formation of the African Securities Regulators Association to address shared regulatory challenges and harmonise cross-border rules that currently impede capital mobility. It directs stock exchanges to accelerate integration through the African Securities Exchanges Association, while tasking market intermediaries with expanding intra-African securities trading. Delegates pledged to channel a larger share of domestic pension savings into regional projects by establishing a Pan-African Infrastructure Fund, and urged financial stakeholders to fund trade opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area. The declaration also advocates eliminating tax, foreign exchange and regulatory barriers to capital flows, provided investor protections and system stability remain intact. Progress will be reviewed every six months.
Emmanuel Nzai, Chairman of Kenya’s Vision 2030 Delivery Board and the Africa Capital Week 2026 Organising Committee, said the initiative aims to build the institutional framework needed to connect African capital with large-scale investment opportunities and build the cross-border trust required to fund the continent’s development goals. The forum featured 20 investment-ready projects spanning energy, food security, transport, trade, technology, social infrastructure and minerals, with dedicated sessions analysing financing structures for each asset. “Our success will not be measured by the declarations we make, but by capital mobilised, enterprises financed, projects delivered, markets deepened and jobs created,” said Bonface Makokha, Principal Secretary for Economic Planning in Kenya’s National Treasury, during the closing session. “We must convert our plans into credible projects, our projects into bankable assets, and our investments into measurable improvements in productivity, employment and household welfare.”
The forum took place against a backdrop of broader continental initiatives aimed at closing Africa’s energy access gap. Mission 300, a joint initiative led by the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank, aims to connect an additional 300 million people across Africa to electricity by 2030. As of June 2026, more than 50 million people had been connected under the programme since July 2023. The African Development Bank has said Mission 300 requires approximately 238 billion dollars across its first two implementation cohorts, with roughly half expected to come from the private sector. In August 2026, the Africa Finance Corporation launched a climate-resilient infrastructure fund targeting up to 3.7 billion dollars in total financing, designed to channel capital from Nigerian pension funds, insurers and asset managers into renewable energy, transport, logistics and digital infrastructure. Nigerian pension funds alone hold approximately 31 trillion naira in assets, with infrastructure allocations growing but still constrained by risk perception.
Organisers said Africa Capital Week would become an annual continental platform, with future editions hosted on a rotational basis across African countries. For the delegates who adopted the Nairobi Declaration, the test now lies in implementation. The commitments to harmonise regulation, integrate exchanges, mobilise pension capital and build a pipeline of bankable projects are ambitious, but the gap between Africa’s available capital and its investment needs remains wide. The continent’s non-bank domestic capital pools now exceed two trillion dollars, yet the projects that could transform its economies continue to struggle for financing. As Makokha put it, the measure of success will not be the declarations made but the capital mobilised, the enterprises financed and the jobs created.
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