Development finance leaders, ministers and entrepreneurs say stronger regional businesses and deeper intra-African trade are critical to transforming African economies and accelerating industrialisation across the continent.
The stakeholders spoke at a Private Sector Forum held on the sidelines of the ongoing 2026 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
The forum with the theme, “Role and Challenges of Private Enterprise in Developing Economic Corridors and the Structural Transformation of African Economies”, focused on the role of private investment in driving regional integration.
Léandre Bassolé, the Director-General for Central Africa at the AfDB, said the bank’s strategic vision under its President, Dr Sidi Ould Tah, recognised the private sector as a major driver of Africa’s economic transformation.
“The private sector is not a peripheral actor in development. It must become one of the central engines of Africa’s economic transformation,” Bassolé said.
He called for stronger mechanisms to connect African savings, institutional investors, commercial banks and development institutions with transformative projects across the continent.
Bassolé also urged stakeholders to deepen partnerships, innovation and entrepreneurship to support a private sector-led growth model for Africa.
Tatsushi Amano, the Executive Director of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), said Japanese firms were increasingly interested in Africa because of its growth potential and market opportunities.
According to him, stronger African companies and long-term partnerships will attract more foreign investment into the continent.
“What attracts them are two simple things: growth and market size,” Amano said.
Mariam Yago-Touré, the Managing Director at United Bank for Africa (UBA), stressed the importance of fully implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
She said the agreement would help African economies integrate more effectively while expanding opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Yago-Touré added that the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) would ease regional currency transactions and support intra-African trade.
Nancy Chenard, the Executive Secretary of the Congolese Employers’ Federation, (UNICONGO), said African economies could no longer rely solely on natural resource extraction for growth.
“We need to go much further toward transformation, diversification, industrialisation and innovation,” she said.
Chenard said African companies needed stronger financing and support to expand beyond their national borders.
Also speaking, Guinea’s Minister of Planning, International Cooperation and Development, Ismaël Nabé, called for integrated regional projects capable of creating jobs and strengthening local industries.
He cited Guinea’s Simandou 2040 mining project, saying it had created more than 60,000 jobs for the Guinean private sector.
The forum also featured presentations on the AfDB’s Private Sector Development Strategy, including plans to support entrepreneurship, SMEs and African multinational companies through financing and improved business environments.
Michel Djombo, Congo’s Minister for Industrial Development, Special Economic Zones and Private Sector Promotion, urged participants to translate the forum’s recommendations into concrete actions that would strengthen Africa’s private sector and regional trade.
