Rooted in Resilience, Ready for the Future: Africa’s Journey Ahead

READING THE TEA LEAVES

By Obinna Chima

obinna.chima@thisdaylive.com 08152447875 (SmS only)

READING THE TEA LEAVES By Obinna Chima obinna.chima@thisdaylive.com 08152447875 (SmS only)

Obinna Chima

At the heart of the 32nd Annual Meetings (AAM2025) of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), which commenced on Wednesday and ended yesterday in Abuja, was a truth Africa knows all too well: resilience is not a buzzword, it is our lived reality.

From navigating colonial legacies and economic headwinds to confronting pandemics, debt crises, geopolitical tensions, and climate shocks, the continent has endured more than its fair share of trials. Yet, in that endurance lies its power.

The three-day conference, with the theme, ‘Building the Future of Africa on Decades of Resilience,’ which brought together an influential coalition of global, African and CARICOM leaders, focused on advancing trade, investment, and innovation across the continent, with Heads of State, Prime Ministers, top business executives, academics and acclaimed academics in attendance and more than 6,000 delegates, was not just a hopeful slogan; it was a rallying cry for a new kind of progress — one built on self-reliance, regional integration, and strategic innovation.

Economic experts and development leaders lauded Afreximbank for its pivotal role in transforming the continent’s trade landscape, strengthening economic resilience, and promoting regional integration.

According to them, from supporting businesses during financial crises to driving strategic investments in infrastructure and industrialisation, the pan-African bank’s impact over the past three decades has positioned it as a cornerstone of Africa’s economic evolution.

The various speakers took turns to emphasise that Africa is no longer content with being the world’s raw material supplier or passive recipient of development aid. The next frontier lies in leveraging what we already have: a $4 trillion pool of domestic capital, a burgeoning youth population, a maturing fintech ecosystem, and a bold vision in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

What’s required now is not reinvention, but reinvestment — in our people, our institutions, and our capacity to execute.

Two former Presidents of the Afreximbank – Mr. Christopher Edordu and Mr. Jean Louis Ekra –  reflected on the journey so far for the pan-African multilateral institution, noting that it has not only lived up to its founding vision, but has also become a critical catalyst for Africa’s economic transformation, resilience, and integration in a rapidly evolving global landscape.

This year’s conversations made it clear: the continent’s future won’t be imported, it will be homegrown. Whether through platforms like the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) redefining cross-border payments or investments in value-added manufacturing, the tools are within reach.

Development and finance experts, who spoke during some of the sessions, called for a shift from externally driven models to homegrown solutions as the most sustainable pathway for Africa’s transformation.

According to them, Africa possesses the resources, institutions, and talent to drive its growth, noting that what’s missing is the collective will to implement practical, locally anchored strategies rather than rely on foreign prescriptions that often fail to align with the continent’s realities.

In her contribution, Institutional Effectiveness and Strategy, University of the West Indies, Prof. Marlene Attzs, Advisor, pointed out that there is a need for home-grown solutions and home-grown institutions to withstand economic shocks and a number of domestic challenges on the continent.

“We need to find domestic solutions for our financing, and we need to have appropriate institutions to carry out and implement these. Because the financing comes from external sources and it is not aligned with what is required domestically, you tend to find that it leads to implementation deficits,” she added.

Also, Chairman Lilium Capital Group & Vista Group Holding, Mr. Simon Tiemtoré, noted that Africa has both the human resources and finance to address its challenges.

“We need to promote our national development plans in Africa. We have many African champions in Africa that can implement our national development plans, and we as an African bank can provide the African solution. We do have African capital; we don’t need to go abroad. We have African banks like Afreximbank, and all of them can come together to fund projects,” he said.

Chairman of BCA and Former Group Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank, Mr. Arnold Ekpe, stressed that “there is domestic capital in Africa.”

“FDIs help development, but is not the only way to go. But the challenge comes with the mindset. We have a major mindset problem, and we all have to step back from that,” he argued.

President & CEO, Africa Finance Corporation and Chairman of the Alliance of African Financial institutions, Mr. Samaila Zubairu, also argued that the continent does not have financing constraints.

“We just launched a report a few weeks ago that says that Africa has over $4 trillion of domestic capital. Out of that, there is $1.1 trillion in non-banking assets. Non-banking funds represent pension funds, insurance funds, and sovereign wealth funds. What is important is how we can structure or create regulatory reforms to ensure asset allocation to industries around Africa. So, these capitals are there, but not well channeled.

“We need African solutions, and these African solutions come from engaging with the government, defining the regulatory reforms, and going after execution. We must have implementable plans, and implementation means talking together with each to move from concepts to actual development,” he said.

Distinguished Fellow, Asia Research Institute, Dr. Kishore Mahbubani, urged African nations to prepare for a rapidly changing global landscape marked by economic uncertainty, geopolitical shifts, and technological disruption.

According to him, we are entering into a cruel world, and policymakers in Africa have to be ready for the cruelty, “because you could get damaged, you could get hurt.”

“So, it is important for us not to have illusions or delusions. Trust me, with so much growth coming, especially from Asia, there are also magnificent opportunities coming our way.

“And what we have to do is to learn to be very shrewd and calculative, figuring out where the dangers are and avoiding them, but to see the opportunities and to seize them,” he added.

Group Chief Economist, Afreximbank, Dr. Yemi Kale, in his presentation during the launch of two reports on trade and economy, which provide roadmap for growth and portray Africa’s resilience in a changing world, noted that, “our continent holds development prospects even as Africa is contending with compounding vulnerabilities such as high, sometimes unsustainable debt burdens, escalating trade tension, climate change, and significant infrastructure gaps, and so on, which are converging to constrain the continent’s growth.”

Therefore, as the curtain falls on AAM2025, and the tenure of its President, Prof. Benedict Oramah, who received wide commendations and was conferred Nigeria’s second highest honour, the GCON by President Bola Tinubu, comes to an end, the truth that echoes louder than ever is that Africa’s future is not a distant dream, it is an unfolding reality powered by resilience, driven by vision, and anchored in self-belief.

From the voices of seasoned leaders to the urgency of youthful innovation, the message is clear—Africa is not waiting for a miracle; it is becoming its miracle. With trillions in untapped domestic capital, a dynamic young population, and homegrown institutions like Afreximbank leading the charge, the continent stands at a powerful inflection point.

If resilience was our inheritance, then reinvention must be our legacy. Africa must stop knocking on locked doors, it must build its gates because the continent’s next chapter won’t be written in foreign ink, but with African hands, African minds, and African solutions.

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