In Brazzaville, on the sidelines of the African Development Bank’s Annual Meetings, the African private sector was the focus of discussions on May 25, 2026. The objective: to consider ways to transform the continent’s immense wealth into sustainable growth, jobs, and shared prosperity.
In an Africa that will soon have 2.5 billion inhabitants, participants at the forum on private investment in Africa emphasized the urgent need to build economies capable of producing locally and creating more added value. For them, the private sector remains the essential driver of this transformation.
“No economy has ever undergone sustainable transformation without a strong private sector. Global economic history teaches us a fundamental truth: businesses create jobs. Businesses innovate. Businesses invest. And businesses accelerate the structural transformations of our economies.”
LÉANDRE BASSOLÉ, Regional Director of the African Development Bank for Central Africa – Burkina Faso
Today, the private sector already accounts for more than 70% of investments on the continent, generates more than 80% of public revenue, and provides more than 90% of jobs. Despite this strategic importance, African businesses continue to face numerous obstacles: limited access to financing, inadequate infrastructure, a complex business environment, and still fragmented markets.
“Potential alone does not create prosperity. Potential must be transformed. The Minister mentioned this. And the central question today is not whether Africa has resources. The real question is how to transform these resources into investment. How to transform these investments into businesses. How to transform these businesses into jobs. And how to transform these jobs into shared prosperity.”
LÉANDRE BASSOLÉ, Regional Director of the AfDB for Central Africa – Burkina Faso
Faced with this urgent situation, the forum calls for collective mobilization: African states must promote industrialization and local content through ambitious policies, following the examples of Kenya, Ethiopia, and Morocco. Financing is the other priority; Financial institutions are being called upon to support SMEs, the backbone of economies, by prioritizing innovative mechanisms and the mobilization of African savings.
« I would like to thank the African Development Bank for organizing this seminar because it’s very important for the private sector to understand that we will not grasp the full potential of the free trade area created on the African continent by banks and the government acting alone. It’s going to be driven by industry, by entrepreneurs, by, you know, the private sector. So we, on the government side, can help with public policy. We can help with incentives and fiscal policy. »
FRÉDÉRIC NZE, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications – Congo
Beyond the rhetoric, this forum primarily reflects a commitment: to make the private sector the true driver of African industrialization, regional integration, and the continent’s structural transformation. For the participants, Africa must no longer be just a global market, but an engine of global growth.
