Africa Finance Corporation works to tap hundreds of billions of dollars

By most measures, Samaila Zubairu’s tenure as head of the Africa Finance Corporation over the last seven years has been a success. The development finance bank just brought on its 46th member state — the Central African Republic — and has tripled investments and boosted profits by 400% since Zubairu took the helm, he said, speaking to us in the content studio of the Pro Lounge at Devex Impact House on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings. The progress is all part of a plan for African nations to invest in the continent and thus own their development, he said. “I think the biggest barrier we have is our mindset — the fact that we refuse to take ownership … the fact that we think that help is going to come from somewhere. For me, once we can overcome that, and then we take a proper look at what we have, we see that we have quite a bit.” In fact, Africa has quite a lot, Zubairu said, rattling off a series of economic statistics. That includes “$450 billion of pension funds that exist on the continent, the $130 billion of sovereign funds that exist, the $200 billion of insurance funds that exist, and the over $40 billion of foreign reserves.” “Our belief has always been, Africa needs investment, it doesn't need aid. Africa, you know, is home to a fast-growing workforce. Africa is organizing rapidly. Africa has abundant energy sources,” he said, noting that the continent is home to 30% of the world’s critical minerals. “So the case for transformation in Africa is there. And we have projects that prove that,” he added, citing AFC-funded projects such as Africa’s largest copper complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo; a special economic zone in Gabon to help diversify the economy away from hydrocarbons; and sesame and cashew processing in Togo. “We're convinced that Africa must define its development agenda, and it must fund it by itself, and it's only when it does that that you’ll find partners to scale.”