Resourcing African Agency through Continental Domestic Private Capital

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Please join us for a Keynote address by the President Zubairu, President and CEO of the African Finance Corporation, as he explores how African actors can effectively mobilize these resources in an era of fragmented multilateralism.

As global economic uncertainties intensify and traditional multilateral frameworks face unprecedented challenges, Africa stands at a pivotal moment. How can the continent harness its own resources to chart an independent path forward?

President Zubairu of the African Finance Corporation addresses this urgent question in a keynote lecture examining Africa's capacity to finance its own transformation. The current global landscape presents formidable obstacles: declining commitments to multilateralism from key Global North actors, widespread funding cuts to development and humanitarian assistance, attacks on international institutional infrastructure, and escalating trade tensions that directly impact African economies. Longstanding structural inequities in global finance and debt regimes continue to constrain African development prospects.

Yet compelling opportunities are emerging. Africa's domestic private capital stands at an estimated USD 4 trillion, representing a substantial foundation for continental transformation. The continent commands growing global interest in strategic minerals essential for green energy transitions, positioning Africa as central to future supply chain security. Economic and trade interactions with Global South actors, including Middle Eastern economies and China, are deepening. Higher-than-anticipated growth levels, the operationalization of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and a vibrant, innovative youth population driving change across technology, creative economies, and knowledge systems all signal new possibilities for African agency.

This keynote will explore how African actors can effectively mobilize these resources in an era of fragmented multilateralism. President Zubairu will examine the role of domestic finance in driving infrastructural and socioeconomic change, strategic investment priorities for enhancing Africa's global influence, continental coordination mechanisms for development beyond dependency, and the opportunities and risks in Africa's evolving engagement with both Global North and Global South economies.

About the speaker

Samaila Zubairu, ONL

President and CEO, Africa Finance Corporation

Mr. Samaila Zubairu has championed African value capture, job creation, and industrialization, directing billions into transformative infrastructure over three decades. As President & CEO of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) for seven years, he has doubled country membership, more than quadrupled investments, including the largest renewable energy acquisition on the continent, and more than tripled profits as of 2024 year-end.

Under his leadership, the AFC has received numerous accolades, including: Pan-African Champion at the 2024 Africa CEO Forum Awards; and DFI of the Year for Europe & Africa at the 2022 Infrastructure Journal Global Awards. Mr. Zubairu was recognized with Senegal’s highest national honour, “the Ordre National du Lion – Commandeur” by former President Macky Sall, for visionary leadership.

Mr. Zubairu is committed to fostering sustainable economic transformation in Africa through innovative financing, strategic partnerships, and impactful infrastructure projects. As the pioneer CFO for Dangote Cement Plc, he launched Africa’s largest syndicated project finance facility and managed the unbundling of Dangote Industries Limited. At AfriCapital Management Limited, he partnered with AIIM to develop the Nigerian Infrastructure Investment Fund 1.

Mr. Zubairu chairs the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI), a platform that brings together Africa’s leading Multilateral Financial Institutions to advance the continent’s economic interests both within member states and on the global stage.

Mr. Zubairu also co-chairs the B20 South Africa Task Force on Finance & Infrastructure – responsible for developing business-driven, actionable policy recommendations to advance economic development for the G20.

His efforts in mobilizing clean energy investment have set global benchmarks for climate action in emerging markets. Mr. Zubairu co-chairs the World Economic Forum (WEF) Network to Mobilize Clean Energy Investment in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies. Under his stewardship, AFC has driven some of the continent’s most ambitious clean energy projects – including Xlinks – a platform aiming to generate 11.5 GW of zero-carbon electricity from solar and wind in Morocco; and Infinity Power – Africa’s largest pure play renewable energy provider focusing on utility-scale solar and on-shore wind technologies.

Mr. Zubairu is an Eisenhower Fellow and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Nigeria. He holds a BSc in Accounting from Ahmadu Bello University.

Discussant

Dr Eyob Balcha Gebremariam

Eyob Balcha Gebremariam is a Research Affiliate in the Department of International Development at King's.

Eyob is a decolonial political economist with a regional focus on African political economy and a thematic focus on academic knowledge production, the politics of development, urban politics, and decolonial methodologies. Some of the key questions he aims to answer in his research attempt to explain how the current layers of multiple power imbalances at the global level are manifested in epistemic hierarchies, unequal exchange in global political economy, both in the sphere of political economy and the global ecosystem of science and research; and what are the lived experiences of African researchers navigating multiple layers of power imbalances whilst contributing to academic knowledge production.

About King's Africa Week

Hosted by the African Leadership Centre and Africa research group, Africa Week is an annual celebration of research, education and outreach activities on Africa.

King's Africa Week brings together academics, researchers and students from across King's – and offers the opportunity to hear from African scholars, leaders and thinkers. It also showcases King's collaboration with African universities and partners.