Adesina Vows to Champion Africa’s Access to Global Capital Beyond AfDB Presidency
Outgoing President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, says his commitment to mobilising global capital for Africa’s development will continue well beyond the end of his term on September 1, 2025.
Speaking at the Standard Chartered Africa Summit in Lagos, Adesina delivered a keynote address titled “Tilting Global Capital for Unlocking Investment Opportunities in Africa”. He called for a united push to unlock the continent’s potential. “Together, let us tilt global capital to unlock Africa’s assets. As I step into a new future, this will be my focus. I will always have Africa in my heart and in my sight,” he said.
The summit, themed “Africa to the Globe: Innovation, Resilience, and Growth”, brought together corporate leaders, policymakers and investors. Attendees included Aliko Dangote, Nigeria’s Minister of Trade and Investment Dr Jumoke Oduwole, FSDH Group Chairman Hakeem Belo-Osagie, and author Chimamanda Adichie.
Opening his speech with characteristic optimism, Adesina said he did not hesitate to accept the invitation to speak. “How can someone known as ‘Africa’s Optimist in Chief’ not accept to speak on Africa!” he said.
He highlighted the African Development Bank’s innovations over the last decade, noting that the Bank is focused on doing more with existing capital. “We are stretching every dollar of risk capital further. Our ambition is threefold: free up capital, crowd in investors and amplify development impact,” he said.
Adesina listed major financial innovations under his leadership. These include more than $102 billion in low-cost financing since 2015, a capital increase from $93 billion in 2015 to $318 billion in 2024, and a leading role in rechanneling IMF Special Drawing Rights to multilateral development banks.
He also pointed to the success of the Africa Investment Forum, which has attracted over $225 billion in investment interest since its launch in 2018. Other achievements include the issuance of $14 billion in social bonds, $10 billion in benchmark bonds in 2025, and the first-ever synthetic securitisation of a non-sovereign portfolio by a multilateral development bank.
The Bank also issued its first hybrid capital transaction in the private sector, raising $750 million with a book order of $5.1 billion from over 275 investors. Additional innovations include the Room to Run Sovereign initiative, which created an estimated $2 billion in new lending headroom, and 16 credit guarantees worth nearly $3 billion, which helped mobilise $5 billion for Africa.
In another milestone, a $250 million partial credit guarantee allowed Egypt to issue the first-ever Panda Bond by an African country on the Chinese capital market, valued at $500 million.
Adesina commended Standard Chartered Bank for its strong partnership with the Bank, highlighting their joint success in delivering a partial credit guarantee for Côte d’Ivoire in 2023. The deal unlocked €533 million in financing and won ‘Sovereign Syndicated Loan Deal of the Year’ at the 2025 Bonds, Loans and ESG Capital Markets Africa Awards in Cape Town.
He also congratulated the bank on being named Best Transaction Bank at the Asset Triple A Treasurise Awards in Hong Kong, noting its record 127 accolades as evidence of global excellence.
Adesina urged global financial institutions to partner more deeply with the African Development Bank and other multilateral banks to accelerate capital flows into Africa. He called for greater use of risk mitigation tools, stronger ESG standards and more support for local currency financing.
His delegation included Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation Solomon Quaynor and Nigeria Country Department Director General Dr Abdul Kamara.
The Bank’s current portfolio in Nigeria is its largest, with $5.1 billion across 52 projects split evenly between the public and private sectors. National projects account for 84 percent of the portfolio, with multinational initiatives making up the rest.
As part of its commitment to youth, the Bank is preparing to launch a Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank in Nigeria. It is also implementing Phase 1 of its Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones across eight states and the Federal Capital Territory. Construction has begun in Kaduna, Cross River, Oyo and Ogun, while Phase 2 will begin in the remaining 28 states from September 2025.
