The African Development Bank Group and the World Economic Forum have launched a new roadmap aimed at increasing private investment in Africa’s fragile economies and frontier markets.
Presented on the sidelines of the 2026 AfDB Annual Meetings in Brazzaville, the Humanitarian and Resilience Investing Roadmap for Africa seeks to mobilise commercial and catalytic capital for underserved transition states and emerging African markets.
The initiative introduces a coordinated, country-led approach designed to improve investment conditions in regions that have historically struggled to attract private financing.
According to the organisers, the roadmap responds to a major structural challenge facing the continent, as Africa continues to experience an estimated annual development financing gap of nearly 400 billion dollars.
Despite accounting for around 17% of the world’s population, Africa attracts only 3.5% of global foreign direct investment and less than 2% of worldwide venture capital flows.
Officials from the AfDB and the WEF also stressed that geopolitical tensions and the decline in public development aid have increased the urgency of finding new financing solutions for the continent.
Pilot projects are already underway in Liberia, Somalia, Mozambique and Djibouti to test this new investment and resilience model.
Speaking during the launch event, Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, representing AfDB President Sidi Ould Tah, called for a shift in Africa’s development financing model.
She said the continent must move away from dependence on aid toward a development strategy driven by investment and private sector growth.
For her part, Sheba Crocker said vulnerable communities need sustainable investments capable of supporting long-term local economic growth beyond emergency assistance.
She added that the roadmap, backed by more than 100 international partners, aims to promote more coordinated and investment-oriented approaches across Africa’s frontier markets.
The 2026 AfDB Annual Meetings are being held in Brazzaville until May 29 under the theme of mobilising resources for Africa’s development financing in a fragmented global environment.
