Lagos: Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has expressed his unwavering dedication to mobilizing global capital for Africa's development, a commitment that transcends his tenure as the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), which is set to conclude on September 1, 2025. In a keynote address titled "Tilting Global Capital for Unlocking Investment Opportunities in Africa," delivered at the Standard Chartered Africa Summit in Lagos, Adesina emphasized, "Together, let us tilt global capital to unlock Africa's assets. As I step into a new future, you can be sure this will be my focus! For I will always have Africa in my heart and in my sight."
According to African Press Organization, the Standard Chartered Africa Summit, themed "Africa to the Globe: Innovation, Resilience, and Growth," convened corporate leaders, policymakers, investors, and stakeholders. Notable attendees included Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote; Nigeria's Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole; Hakeem Belo-Osagie, Chairman of FSDH Group and Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School; and award-winning author Chimamanda Adichie.
The AfDB has significantly contributed to Africa's development, providing over $102 billion in low-cost financing since 2015. Under Adesina's leadership, the Bank's capital has surged from $93 billion in 2015 to $318 billion in 2024, marking the highest in its sixty-year history. The Bank has also played a crucial role, alongside the Inter-American Development Bank, in the rechanneling of the IMF's Special Drawing Rights to multilateral development banks, leveraging these funds by four to eight times.
The Africa Investment Forum, established by the AfDB with strategic partners, has attracted over $225 billion in investment interest across various critical sectors, including infrastructure, energy, agribusiness, and manufacturing, since 2018. The Bank has issued $14 billion in social bonds over the past eight years, the largest by any multilateral development bank, and $10 billion in long-term global benchmark bonds in 2025 to finance projects across Africa.
In a pioneering move, the AfDB executed the first-ever synthetic securitization of a non-sovereign portfolio by a multilateral development bank, transferring mezzanine risk of a $1 billion portfolio of private sector loans. The Bank also completed the first-ever private sector hybrid capital transaction, valued at $750 million, attracting over 275 investors with a book order of $5.1 billion.
The AfDB's "Room to Run Sovereign" initiative created an estimated $2 billion in new sovereign lending headroom, while 16 partial credit and partial risk guarantees valued at close to $3 billion mobilized $5 billion for the continent. A $250 million partial credit guarantee enabled Egypt to issue the first Panda Bond by an African country on the Chinese capital market, valued at $500 million.
Adesina praised Standard Chartered Bank's successful partnership with the AfDB, which facilitated a partial credit guarantee for Côte d'Ivoire in 2023. This deal won the Sovereign Syndicated Loan Deal of the Year at the 2025 Bonds, Loans, and ESG Capital Markets Africa Awards in Cape Town. Standard Chartered participated as the sole lender in Côte d'Ivoire's sustainable loan transaction, unlocking £533 million in financing for the country.
He also congratulated Standard Chartered on being named Best Transaction Bank at the Asset Triple A Treasurise Awards in Hong Kong, acknowledging their record-breaking 127 accolades for excellence in banking and finance globally.
Adesina called for more strategic collaborations between global financial institutions and the AfDB to increase capital flows to Africa. He advocated for greater use of risk mitigation and credit enhancement instruments, mainstreaming best practices in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards, and enhancing local currency financing solutions.
The AfDB's delegation included Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure, and Industrialization Solomon Quaynor and Director General of the Nigeria Country Department, Dr. Abdul Kamara. The Bank's active portfolio in Nigeria, valued at $5.1 billion, comprises 52 operations split equally between public and private sectors, with national operations accounting for 84% of the portfolio.
The AfDB is establishing a Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank in Nigeria as part of a pan-African initiative to create and finance entrepreneurship opportunities for young Africans. The Bank is also implementing Phase 1 of its Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones across eight states, including the Federal Capital Territory. Construction has commenced in Kaduna, Cross River, Oyo, and Ogun, with Phase 2 set to launch in September 2025, covering the remaining 28 states.