Ahead of the inaugural West Africa Integration and Investment Summit in Sierra Leone, President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone and Tony Elumelu have urged domestic investors in the sub-region to help unlock its huge investment potentials. The summit aims to accelerate capital mobilisation and integrate the sub-region. President Bio, who chairs the Economic Community of West African States Authority of Heads of State and Government, described stakeholders as “partners in execution” who should transform ideas into partnerships and investments.
President Bio warned that potential is not prosperity, and the task is to convert advantages into productive enterprises, competitive industries, regional value chains, jobs, and wealth. He challenged members of the Advisory Board to move from advocacy to active mobilisation, engaging prospective investors directly, matching them with viable projects, and identifying financing gaps. Elumelu welcomed President Bio’s desire to place private capital and enterprise at the heart of the regional agenda.
Elumelu restated his commitment to rally African and international investment alongside leading African financial institutions to support the execution of priority projects. His philosophy of Africapitalism emphasises the role of the African private sector in catalysing the continent’s economic transformation through long-term investment in critical sectors. Elumelu stressed the need for African businesses to look beyond national borders and combine capital, expertise, and capabilities to build competitive enterprises.
Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, underscored the importance of industrialisation and free movement of goods and services in building a truly integrated West African market. He agreed with Elumelu on the need for political leaders to provide the enabling environment, certainty, and assurances required for businesses to invest, produce, and trade across borders. The discussion during the meeting in Lagos centred on a shared conviction that West Africa has the scale, resources, talent, and entrepreneurial capacity to become one of the world’s most dynamic economic regions.
Participants called attention to four strategic areas with potential to reshape West Africa’s economic outlook: energy trade and industrialisation, strategic minerals, agribusiness, and digital transformation. Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, Special Envoy appointed by President Bio, listed these areas as key to transforming West Africa’s economic potential into shared prosperity. The inaugural West Africa Integration and Investment Summit is slated for November 17 and 18 in Sierra Leone.
Expected to attend the summit are Heads of state, investors, and business leaders, including private sector members of the WAIIS advisory board, such as Aliko Dangote, Apostle Folorunso Alakija, and Samuel Dossou-Aworet. Other attendees include Governor Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, Dr. George Elombi, Samaila Zubairu, Abdul Samad Rabiu, Wale Tinubu, Alain Ebobissé, Paulo Gomes, Prof. Benedict Okey Oramah, and Habib Yérim Sow.
The summit aims to consolidate a regional market of over 400 million people and mobilise businesses from within West Africa and across the world to deepen trade, investment, and economic cooperation. The co-chairs agree that this is possible if the sub-region shifts decisively from promise to delivering regional integration by mobilizing the capital needed to build globally competitive industries.
Key points
- West Africa has huge investment potentials to create jobs for millions of the youthful population.
- The summit aims to accelerate capital mobilisation and integrate the sub-region.
- Private sector players are urged to help unlock West Africa’s investment potential.
