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The Global Africa Business Initiative, GABI, has called for more investment in African industries, with discussions at its Unstoppable Africa 2026 forum focusing on moving beyond conversations about the continent’s potential to actual investment and industrialisation.
The two-day forum, themed “Unstoppable Africa 2026: Powering Business, Scaling Economies, Shaping the Future,” was held in New York from September 21 to 22, with the final day focusing on digital transformation and investment.
News Central correspondent Felicity Ezewuike, reporting from the forum, said the discussions on the first day centred on investment, contracts and the need to move towards real industrialisation.
She added that discussions on the first day also focused heavily on critical minerals, trade, energy and investment, while the second day turned to digital transformation and investment.
“I was saying for day one, we move away from talking about Africa’s potential to actually doing something, talking about investment, signing contracts to start the movement of real industrialisation,” Ezewuike said.
“Day one also leaned heavily on critical minerals, trade, energy and investment, and day two took on digital transformation and investment.”
Ezewuike said one of the key messages from the forum was the need for Africa to move beyond supplying raw materials and instead develop businesses and industries that allow the continent to retain more value.
“I did say that the key message, the underlying message, was that we should be talking less about Africa supplying raw materials to the world and more about building the businesses, industries and value chains that let the continent capture value itself,” she said.
She also highlighted the $300 million Nigerian Distributed Renewable Energy Fund as one of the concrete developments from the forum.
“I know we’re out of time, so I’m just going to talk about one thing that actually came out of all of this talk about investment. It was not just the talk this time around. There was one: the $300 million Nigerian distributed renewable energy fund,” Ezewuike said.
She said the fund reached its first close during the Unstoppable Africa Forum and is co-managed by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority and Africa50.
“It reached its first close during the Unstoppable Africa Forum, GABI’s Unstoppable Africa Forum. It is co-managed by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority and Africa 50, and it’s designed to fund local energy developers, things like solar, mini-grids, and storage systems,” she said.
Ezewuike said the renewable energy fund was one of several developments emerging from the forum’s discussions as GABI concluded its 2026 edition.
