What You Need to Know
Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, former President of the African Development Bank, emphasized the need for a new investment narrative for Africa during his acceptance of the African Lifetime Achievement Award in Ghana. He highlighted the continent’s economic growth and urged global investors to recognize Africa as an investable reality, moving beyond outdated perceptions of risk.
Africa-Press – Tanzania. DR. Akinwumi A. Adesina, the immediate past President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, has called on global investors and African policymakers to lead a “structural revaluation” of the continent’s economic narrative.
Speaking in Accra, Ghana, after receiving the prestigious African Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr. Adesina argued that the perception of Africa as a high-risk environment is an outdated “mispricing” of reality that continues to hamper the continent’s capital-access potential.
The event, held on April 11, 2026, brought together a formidable assembly of the continent’s political and business elite, including Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama and former Botswana President Seretse Khama Ian Khama. For Dr. Adesina, who steered the AfDB through a transformative decade ending in 2025, the recognition was less a celebration of the past and more a platform for a new, aggressive investment mission centered on the Global Africa Investment Summit (GAIS).
Beyond Potential: The investable reality
Dr. Adesina’s address challenged the long-standing “Africa has potential” trope, which he suggested has often served as a polite excuse for capital flight or hesitation. “Africa is no longer a promise. Africa is not potential,” Dr. Adesina told the audience.
“Africa is an investable reality. Africa is inevitable!” He supported this stance with 2026 IMF projections, which indicate that Africa will record approximately 4.2% real GDP growth this year, maintaining its status as the fastest-growing region in the world for four consecutive years.
This growth, he argued, is not a mere cyclical recovery from global shocks but a fundamental shift in the continent’s economic architecture. “Africa is not just growing. Africa is compounding,” he said, noting that the world is finally being forced to take notice of the continent’s internal market strength and its transition from a commoditydependent region to one driven by services, manufacturing, and digital trade.
The ‘East African evidence’
For the East African business community, Dr. Adesina’s speech provided a significant validation of regional innovation. He pointed to “African Champions” as evidence of scale and resilience.
Notably, he cited Kenya’s Safaricom as hosting the world’s largest mobile phone payment system, a feat he categorized alongside the MTN Group’s global reach and the Dangote Group’s massive petroleum refinery in Nigeria.
“These are not exceptions,” he emphasized. “They are signals of scale, resilience, and readiness.” Among a number of high-profile attendees and legal experts interviewed by this writer at the ceremony was Eric Gumbo, Managing Partner at G&A Advocates LLC, a top-tier African law firm headquartered in Kenya.
Commenting on the strategic weight of the address, Gumbo noted that the most striking takeaway for the regional business community was Dr. Adesina’s assertion that “the question is no longer whether Africa will ascend… the question is whether the world is ready for the Africa that has already ascended.”
This sentiment, Gumbo suggested, reflects a new era where African enterprises are no longer seeking validation, but are instead presenting a competitive “alpha” to global markets.
Correcting the mispricing of risk
A central pillar of Dr. Adesina’s “structural revaluation” call focused on the disparity between Africa’s natural wealth and the capital it attracts.
He highlighted a staggering statistic: Africa holds roughly 30% of the world’s known critical mineral reserves, yet it receives less than 5% of global investment flows into these sectors.
He argued that this gap is not a result of inherent risk, but a failure of global markets to correctly price African assets.
To address this, his new mission with GAIS—cofounded with Margery Kraus of APCO Worldwide—aims to connect sovereign wealth funds and pension managers with investment-grade African infrastructure.
Supported by President Mahama, GAIS is designed to move away from the “aid” model and toward institutional capital deployment.
“This is not aid. This is not sentiment. This is not charity,” Dr. Adesina stated firmly. “This is alpha.”
A decade of impact
The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes a career defined by massive scale. Under Dr. Adesina’s leadership from 2015 to 2025, the African Development Bank’s capital increased from $93 billion to a record $318 billion.
This surge in financial firepower directly impacted the lives of 565 million people across the continent through the “High 5′′ strategy—Light up and Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa.
Earlier in his career as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture, he led a transformation that reached over 15 million farmers, a precursor to the systemic changes he would later implement at the continental level. In an emotional conclusion, Dr. Adesina dedicated the honor to his wife of 42 years, Grace, and his home nation, Nigeria for giving him the opportunity and platforms to serve the country, Africa and the world.
He made it clear that while his tenure at the AfDB has ended, his service to the continent has not, noting “Serving Africa is a lifetime calling.”
He finally dedicated the award to Africa—“Not as she was. Not even as she is. But as she is destined to be”.
Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina served as the President of the African Development Bank from 2015 to 2025, during which he significantly increased the bank’s capital and impact across the continent. His leadership focused on transformative initiatives aimed at improving the quality of life for millions of Africans, particularly through the bank’s ‘High 5’ strategy. The African Development Bank has played a crucial role in financing infrastructure and development projects across Africa, positioning itself as a key player in the continent’s economic growth.
Source: African Development Bank Group
