At the recently concluded IFC 2025 African Equity Forum in Lagos, policymakers, global investors and industrial leaders evaluated the continent’s investment landscape and how to co-develop strategies to strengthen local value chains.

In his keynote address, Chairman of McKinsey Africa, Acha Leke, charted Africa’s economic evolution, noting the shift from investor scepticism in the early 2000s to today’s growing strategic interest.

While acknowledging macroeconomic challenges in countries like Nigeria and Egypt, he cited data showing increased productivity and that 15 African countries now outperform the continental average.

“More than half of the continent now lives above the poverty line, contributing to 40 per cent of Africa’s GDP. Public and private sectors must proactively pursue growth opportunities instead of waiting for them to emerge,” he said.

Vice Chairman of TGI Group, Farouk Gumel, during a fireside chat with IFC’s Sandiswa Makola, stressed the importance of recognising and integrating Africa’s informal rural economy into the continent’s value creation agenda.

“Africa’s trade with the world is around two per cent or maybe three per cent,” Gumel noted during the session.

“But that’s not the full story. For Africa to have better participation, we must look at the people who often don’t see themselves in these trade conversations – the real Africa, which is 3,000 tribes, spread across this patch of land. That is the only way we can ensure real transformation,” he said.

He highlighted the importance of inclusive business models that don’t alienate the continent’s most vulnerable communities. Highlighting TGI’s commitment to rural job preservation, he explained the company’s unconventional approach – a model of strategic inefficiency.

“At TGI, we embrace what we call ‘strategic inefficiency.’ It may sound counterintuitive, but avoiding certain forms of automation helps preserve livelihoods in rural communities. For every tractor we bring in, jobs are lost per hectare. In places where people have no formal education or alternative income, mechanisation destroys lives,” he explained.

Gumel’s remarks drew attention to the long-term value of embedding communities into the business ecosystem, which builds trust, stimulates demand and fosters sustainable growth.

The event closed with a unified call for policy coherence, intra-African collaboration and the creation of localised capital structures that ensure investment returns are recycled within the continent.