Temi Popoola, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group), believes that Africa's next capital-market opportunity lies in making better use of the capital already within the continent. Popoola sees an opportunity to connect Africa's pools of capital more effectively with businesses across the continent, building on market infrastructure and regional linkages already taking shape. This approach can allow African savings to participate more directly in African growth.
Across Africa, pension funds, asset managers, financial institutions, and individual investors control significant pools of savings, while businesses continue to require long-term capital to finance growth. The opportunity is increasingly about connecting the two more effectively, across borders, markets, and economies. Popoola emphasizes that foreign investment will remain an important source of funding for African businesses, but a more connected continental market could allow African savings to participate more directly in African growth.
Africa's capital markets remain largely organised along national lines, making it complex for investors to access opportunities beyond their home markets. Investors must navigate different regulatory frameworks, currencies, settlement systems, disclosure requirements, and distribution channels. For companies, those same differences can make accessing capital across borders more complex. Addressing these barriers is part of a larger evolution in how African capital markets need to function.
The foundations for this evolution are already taking shape through emerging market infrastructure and linkages across Africa. The African Exchanges Linkage Project (AELP) is an initiative of the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) and the African Development Bank aimed at improving access to securities across participating African markets. NGX is among the exchanges involved in the initiative. This project and others like it aim to improve liquidity, facilitate cross-border investment, and give African businesses wider access to capital.
The case for greater integration is gaining support across Africa. Pierre-Célestin Rwabukumba, CEO of the Rwanda Stock Exchange and President of ASEA, stated that harmonised, integrated markets can improve liquidity, facilitate cross-border investment, and give African businesses wider access to capital. He also noted that African businesses struggle to access capital, and millions of citizens have yet to become investors.
Technology is helping make the ecosystem more accessible. In Nigeria, NGX Group has been building that capability through NGX Invest, expanding the channels through which investors can participate in public offers and enabling investment opportunities to reach investors through stockbrokers, banks, fintechs, and other financial institutions. For Popoola, these developments point towards a broader principle: capital-market infrastructure should make it progressively easier for investors to access opportunities and for businesses to reach the capital they need.
An example of a major African business turning to the capital market to broaden ownership and mobilise long-term capital is the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals public offer, launched at Nigerian Exchange on 14 September 2026. For NGX Group, transactions of this scale illustrate why the infrastructure connecting businesses with investors matters. Popoola articulated the ambition directly: “We need to be able to mobilize capital across the continent and funnel them, frankly, into whatever businesses in whatever countries that they are to drive our collective growth.”
Key points
- Connecting Africa's pools of capital with businesses across the continent can drive growth.
- African capital markets can grow by making better use of local capital.
- Technology can help make the ecosystem more accessible.
