2026 Programme

08:00 Registration

09:00 Welcome and Opening Remarks

• Chantelé Carrington, Chief Executive Officer, Invest Africa

09:10 Keynote addresses

• H.E. John Dramani Mahama, President, Republic of Ghana

• Baroness Jennifer Chapman of Darlington, Minister of State (International Development & Africa), United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

09:40 Keynote Fireside: Redefining Partnership

The rules of engagement are being rewritten. Not what Africa can offer the world, but what Africa now expects in return. What does this mean for companies and investors trying to engage with the continent today?

This is the conversation that sets the terms for everything that follows.

Fireside Chat:

• Samaila Zubairu, President & CEO, Africa Finance Corporation

• Rt. Hon. Mark Simmonds, Advisory Board Chair, Invest Africa  

10:00 Debate: Navigating a New Trade Paradigm

Global trade is becoming more volatile, fragmented, and politically driven. US tariffs have hit 20 African countries, long-standing agreements like AGOA can no longer be relied on, and the disruption has forced some nations into economic crisis.

For Africa, this has accelerated a critical shift: reducing dependence on external partners and building stronger trade systems from within. AfCFTA  - with 49 countries already signed up  - sits at the centre of that response. At the same time, new partnerships are emerging with China, the Gulf, and Europe that signal a move toward more value-added collaboration. The question is how Africa turns global disruption into structural opportunity.

• Moderator: Cheryl Buss, Chief Executive Officer, Absa International

• Ben Ainsley, HMTrade Commissioner for Africa (Acting), UK Department for Business and Trade

• Mr. Haytham El Maayergi, Executive Vice President of Global Trade Bank (EVP GTBA), Afreximbank 

• Claver Gatete, Under Secretary-General and Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) 

• Heike Harmgart, Managing Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) 

10:40 Morning Break

11:05 Debate: Building a New Financing Pact with Africa

The global financial architecture is under pressure - and for Africa, it has never worked as intended. Despite representing 20% of the world's population, African countries receive less than 3% of global capital flows, while facing borrowing costs hundreds of basis points higher than developed markets. The institutions that have governed global finance for nearly 80 years are increasingly seen as outdated and misaligned with today's realities.

New players are emerging - regional development banks, the New Development Bank, new multilateral frameworks - and calls for fundamental reform are growing louder. For African economies, this is a genuine moment of leverage: not just to access more capital, but to help shape a system that better reflects their priorities. For the financiers, investors, and institutions in this room, understanding where that system is heading - and who is writing the new rules - is not optional. It is the difference between being ahead of the shift or behind it.

• Moderator: Jennifer Zabasajja, Chief Africa Correspondent and Anchor, Bloomberg TV

• Hon. Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, Minister of Finance, Republic of Ghana

• Abi Ajayi, Head of Primary Markets, Middle East and Africa, London Stock Exchange

• Dalu Ajene, CEO & Head of Coverage, Africa, Standard Chartered

• Rene Awambeng, Managing Partner, Premier Invest

• Zemedeneh Negatu, Chief Executive Officer, CBE Capital Investment Bank and Chairman, Fairfax Africa Fund

11:45 Debate: Winning the Critical Minerals Race?

Africa holds around 30% of the world's mineral reserves, including the majority of inputs needed for the global energy transition. Demand is surging and capital is already moving - from the US, EU, China, and others - all competing to secure supply chains and lock in access.

But this is not just a supply story. Across the continent, governments are moving to capture more value locally: from raw extraction to processing, manufacturing, and participation in the full value chain. Africa is no longer willing to export value and import finished goods - and the terms of the minerals race are shifting accordingly.

• Moderator: Sameh Shenouda, Executive Director & Chief Investment Officer, Africa Finance Corporation

• Hon. Dr. John Abdulai Jinapor, Minister of Energy, Republic of Ghana

• Veronica Bolton-Smith, Chief Executive Officer, The Critical Minerals Africa Group (CMAG)

• Lawrence Dechambenoit, Head of Group Government Relations and Civil Society, Rio Tinto

• Rohitesh Dhawan, President & CEO, International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM)

• Ipeleng Selele, Chairperson, Brand South Africa

12:30 Spotlight: Unlocking Africa’s Agribusiness Potential

Africa produces enough to feed itself — yet imports over $80bn in food annually. The gap lies in processing, value addition, and market access. This session examines what it will take to convert the continent’s agricultural base into competitive agro-industrial value chains, connecting smallholder farmers to markets, attracting investment into food processing, and building the partnerships that move Africa from commodity export to value-added industry.

• Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Republic of Ghana

• Adwoa Banful, Partner, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) & Growth Gateway Lead on Ghana Services Project and Global Clean Power Alliance Interventions 

12:50  Spotlight: The Real Economic Development (RED) Index

Grounded in the real-world trajectories of South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Morocco, and Brazil, the RED Index evaluates whether African countries are genuinely putting in place the structural conditions that produce industrial transformation — and where the gaps lie. The 2025 Annual RED Index, published by the Business Council for Africa, assesses 54 African countries across seven Engines of industrialisation, three Accelerators, and three Decelerators. 

• Introduction: Karen Taylor, Chair, Invest Africa

• Presenter: Arnold Ekpe, Chairman, Business Council for Africa

13:00 Lunch

14:05 Debate: Redefining Philanthropy

As traditional development funding comes under pressure, philanthropic capital is playing an increasingly vital role in Africa's development. A new generation of African philanthropists is emerging alongside international foundations - bringing capital that is often more closely aligned to local priorities and long-term outcomes.

But philanthropy's role is under scrutiny. The question is no longer just how it fills funding gaps  - but whether it can move beyond that, working alongside public and private capital to drive sustainable, system-level impact. This session asks whether philanthropy needs to fundamentally evolve its model for the continent.

• Moderator: Sanjeev Gupta, Board Member, Independent Consultant

• Dr. Awele V. Elumelu, Co-Founder, The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF)

• Bathylle Missika, Head of Inclusive Development & Partnerships and Head of the 4P Secretariat, OECD

• Will Straw, Chief Executive Officer, King’s Trust International

14:30 Debate: Redefining the Energy Transition

African economies are facing an energy transition paradox. The continent holds vast renewable potential and many of the critical minerals the world needs to power green growth - yet some 600 million Africans still lack access to reliable electricity. Demand is projected to triple by 2040, and an estimated $22.4bn in investment is needed by that point, primarily for renewables. The financing gap is real and growing.

The stakes couldn't be higher: how Africa navigates this transition will determine whether global climate goals and the continent's own development needs can be met simultaneously - and whether the investment community rises to meet a challenge that is as commercially significant as it is consequential.

• Moderator: Dr. Kwasi Ampofo, Head of Metals and Mining, Bloomberg New Energy Forum (BNEF)

• Introduction: Martin Devenish MBE, Board Director, Global head of Corporate Intelligence, S-RM

• Hon. Sihle Zikalala, Deputy Minister of Public Works & Infrastructure, Republic of South Africa

• Olukorede K.O. Adenowo, Chief Executive Officer, FirstBank UK

• Ana Hajduka, Founder and CEO, Africa GreenCo

• Kola Karim, Group Managing Director and CEO, Shoreline Energy International

• Prof. Teddy Muba Lwamba, Director General, Société Nationale d’Électricité (SNEL)

15:15 Spotlight: Invest Durban

Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest and busiest port, Durban handles a third of South Africa’s trade and is undergoing major infrastructure investment, including PPP-led port expansion, positioning itself as a gateway for investment into logistics, manufacturing, and services across the continent.

• Russell Curtis, Chief Executive Officer, Invest Durban

15: 25 Debate: Redefining Development Finance

The scale of Africa's financing needs is growing - and the gap is widening. The continent faces an infrastructure financing gap of up to $108bn annually, while traditional sources of development finance are under unprecedented pressure. Aid budgets are tightening, debt burdens are rising, and in 2023 Africa attracted just $29bn in foreign direct investment - concentrated in a handful of markets and sectors.

Something has to give. Development finance institutions are evolving - blended finance, local currency lending, new attempts to crowd in private capital. But the question is whether incremental adaptation is enough, or whether what's actually needed is a fundamental rethink of how capital reaches the continent and on whose terms.

• Moderator: David Meredith, Partner, McKinsey & Co., Programme Director, Manufacturing Africa

• Runa Alam, Co-Founding Partner & Chair, Development Partners International (DPI)

• Kwamina Asomaning, Chief Executive Officer, Ghana, Stanbic Bank

• Banji Fehintola, Executive Director, Financial Services, Africa Finance Corporation

• Leslie Maasdorp, Chief Executive Officer, British International Investment (BII)

• Admassu Tadesse, President & Managing Director, Trade and Development Bank (TDB)

16:10 Afternoon Break

16:35 Debate: The Next Phase of Africa's Digital Transformation

Africa's digital transformation has already delivered one of the great economic leapfrogs of the past two decades. Mobile penetration exceeds 80%, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for nearly half of the world's mobile money accounts, and a thriving digital economy now spans payments, lending, e-commerce, healthtech, and enterprise software. The continent has proven it can build world-class innovation on its own terms.

AI represents both the greatest opportunity to extend that lead - and the most serious risk of losing it. It is moving faster than any previous technology wave, with higher barriers to entry, and it will define economic competitiveness for decades. Africa has leapfrogged before. Whether it can do so again, at this speed and at this scale, is one of the most consequential questions facing the continent right now.

• Moderator: Alexis Akwagyiram, Managing Editor, Semafor Africa

• Vivek Badrinath, Director General, GSMA

• Abdulhamid “AB” Hassan, Chief Executive Officer, Mono

• Sylvia Mulinge, CEO MTN Uganda

• Hardy Pemhiwa, President and CEO, Cassava Technologies

17:20 Afternoon Keynote - H.E. Taiwo Oyedele. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Federal Republic of Nigeria 

Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy, and for three years it has been in the middle of one of the continent’s most consequential reform programmes. Exchange rate liberalisation, fuel subsidy removal, revenue reform, and a sweeping overhaul of the tax system have reshaped the macroeconomic landscape. The conversation about what comes next - how stabilisation becomes growth, how reforms translate into jobs and investment - is one of the most important in African economics. H.E. Taiwo Oyedele assumed office as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy in April 2026, having previously chaired Nigeria’s Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms. His address will focus on Nigeria’s reform trajectory and the case for Africa’s largest economy as a model of structural transformation. 

• H.E. Taiwo Oyedele, Minister of Finance & Coordinating Minster of the Economy, Federal Republic of Nigeria

17:30 Closing Keynote Fireside: The Game Changers

This closing fireside brings together some of Africa’s leading investors and strategic thinkers to look ahead. Not at familiar challenges that have long dominated the discourse, but at the forces — already in motion — that are defining the continent's economic future. The game is changing. The question is who and what is most consequential in driving change, and what that means for the decade ahead.

• Moderator: Karin Strohecker, Global Chief Correspondent for Emerging Markets, Thomson Reuters

• Introduction: Mamadou Kwidjim Toure, Founder and CEO, Ubuntu Group 

• Amadou Hott, Former Minister of Economy, Planning & International Cooperation, Republic of Senegal & Chair, Africa Advisory Board, Vision Invest, Saudi Arabia

• Uche Orji, Founder & Director, Vitesse Africa Limited

• Babatunde Soyoye, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Helios Investment Partners

18:00 Closing Reception - Hosted in Partnership with FirstBank UK and the Mayor of London