AVCA’s London Summit brings private capital leaders together to advance resilience, sustainable infrastructure and local value creation in Africa

The African Private Capital Association (AVCA) convened its Sustainable Investing in Africa Summit on 15 October, bringing together leading figures from the global private capital industry.The summit outlined critical priorities for private capital, emphasising the urgent need to fund hard infrastructure, transition from extraction to localised value creation, and mobilise domestic capital to build more resilient, globally competitive enterprises.

Against a backdrop of macroeconomic volatility and geopolitical fragmentation, industry leaders underscored that Africa is no longer merely a destination for development finance. Instead, it has become a strategic arena essential to solving global supply chain and energy transition challenges. Abi Mustapha-Maduakor, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AVCA, highlighted the imperative of this shift: “While sustainability is being questioned, redefined, or deprioritised in some parts of the world, it has never been more relevant in Africa. It is far more than an investment label; it is a vital pathway to resilience and long-term value creation. The question isn’t whether we can afford to invest sustainably; it’s whether we can afford not to.”

The opening panel examined how trade fragmentation and resource insecurity are reshaping capital allocation. Speaking to what geopolitical realignment means in practice, British A. Robinson, Chair, Africa at the Milken Institute, set out a continent that is no longer choosing between blocs so much as choosing among them. “Africa is now a swing actor. It can partner with anyone. Africa is not just choosing the US, or choosing a particular country in Asia. It can choose the world, and the world can choose it. And that is different.”

Fellow panellists, including ‘Tokunboh Ishmael, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Alitheia Capital, and Sofiane Lahmar, Chief Executive Officer of Development Partners International, reinforced the necessity of local capital in anchoring resilient growth. Building on this cross-border dynamic, Matthieu Ducorroy, Head of Equity and Funds Division at the European Investment Bank, positioned private capital as a vital bridge, saying, “the resilience of Africa goes hand in hand with the resilience of Europe.”

A central priority emerging from the summit is evolving Africa’s economic model through targeted alternative investments. Discussing the continent’s energy and industrial transition, experts such as Shurong Li, Vice President at Gemcorp Capital, and Ross Palmer, Sustainable Infrastructure, Regional Head of Sub-Saharan Africa at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, outlined the requirements for converting strategic assets into long-term economic value.

Saima Rehman, Senior Investment Officer for PE Funds at the International Finance Corporation, drew parallels to successful Asian industrialisation models: “The true transformation of the continent lies in shifting from an extraction economy to a localised supply chain economy. Keeping raw materials at home to be processed is how we generate sustainable local jobs, empower domestic companies, and build a genuine, resilient tax base.”

Executing this transition requires deploying patient, risk-tolerant capital into foundational infrastructure. ‘Tokunboh Ishmael noted that “true resilience isn’t just about fortifying individual businesses anymore—it’s about financing the infrastructure and value chains that allow those businesses to survive and scale.” As global markets accelerate artificial intelligence adoption, private investment managers stressed a critical deficit in the physical infrastructure needed to power Africa’s digital future.

Harriet Adinkrah, Investment Principal, 4DX Ventures, reinforced the need for localised solutions, stating: “To power our digital future, hard infrastructure like data centres must be built directly within the geographies they serve. Localising this infrastructure isn’t just a matter of data sovereignty; it is a technical necessity to reduce latency, improve access, and build a digital economy that truly performs for African consumers and businesses.”

Addressing the parallel imperative of climate adaptation, experts called for innovative capital structures to fund resilience. Rachel Moré-Oshodi, CEO and Managing Director at ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investment, highlighted the role of domestic institutional investors, noting that they have successfully brought in pension funds by offering an inflation hedge and long-term maturity aligning with their liabilities.

To fully mobilise this capital, speakers urged the industry to confront outdated global risk models. Adesuwa Ladoja, Managing Director and CEO of Lagos Free Zone, challenged international allocators: “There are trillions of dollars globally waiting to be deployed, yet the traditional models used to assess risk create a formula that will consistently give you the wrong answer for Africa. You cannot accurately judge these geographies or projects from a desk thousands of miles away.”

The summit concluded with a unified call to action for the private investment community to transition from isolated deal-making to scalable platform aggregation. Rhoda Mhango, Head of Strategic Initiatives & Stakeholder Engagement at AVCA, closed the event by illuminating the power of collective action: “Africa’s opportunity is significant, but realising its full potential requires more than recognition. It requires the right partnerships, a willingness to think differently about risk, and a shared commitment to addressing the barriers holding back the growth and investment we want to see. What difference will we make together in the years ahead?”

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