The conclusions from the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), convened this summer in Seville, Spain, could not have been clearer: Africa must look increasingly to itself and its regional champions to finance its future.

Africa’s development chal- lenges are well known. Infrastructure gaps, from transport corridors to energy systems, continue to stifle industrial growth and regional trade. Food insecurity persists de- spite vast agricultural poten- tial. High import bills for food and fuel drain scarce foreign exchange. Global capital mar- kets remain prohibitively ex- pensive for African borrow- ers, hamstrung by entrenched perceptions of risk and skewed rating methodologies.

But the point that is glossed over is that Africa already has the institutional foundations to respond, but they require more firepower. Regional Mul- tilateral Development Banks (MDBs) such as the African De- velopment Bank (AfDB), Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB), the institution I head, or the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) are underleveraged as- sets for the task at hand.

We enjoy better credit rat- ings than most of our share- holder countries and are ide- ally positioned to intermediate finance at lower cost and with greater developmental align- ment. Despite our strong growth over this last decade, by global By Admassu Tadesse, President and CEO, Trade & Development Bank unga spe- cial report/2025 11 standards our balance sheets remain too small given the size of the fi- nancing gap and opportunity that Africa presents, and access to concessional resources re- mains limited by inbuilt biases inherent in the global financial architecture.

The Seville consensus, a comprehensive framework developed and adopted during the conference, called for the tripling of MDB financing by 2030 and bridging the $4trn annual SDG financing gap in developing countries.

This ambition must be matched by a shift in approach: Africa’s regional banks must be equipped to take on a larger share of the financing burden. That means recapitalising them and granting them the policy space to innovate, whether in structuring diaspora bonds, crowding in export credit, or blending public and private fi- nance in more catalytic ways.

At TDB, we have seen first- hand how smart partnerships and risk-sharing with global partners can be game chang- ing. We have managed to lev- erage these partnerships to great effect, unlocking critical investments and vital trade fi- nance solutions.

What Africa also needs is a better “experience manage- ment” strategy for investors. Successful early-stage invest- ments are the most powerful form of promotion. A single positive-return story in in- frastructure or agriculture can do more to attract follow- on capital than any amount of branding or rhetoric. Con- versely, failed projects deepen scepticism and reinforce the narrative of Africa as highrisk and high-friction.

Experience management should be a core function of our financial institutions. It means not only de-risking projects, but actively holding hands with investors, solving bottlenecks, advocating with governments, and ensuring operational re- silience.

This is how East Asia scaled its investment miracle: by making political stability and investor success a matter of national pride.

We must also reject the myth that capital scarcity is purely an external problem. Africa’s own savings, pension funds, and remittances, much of which sit idle or are chan- nelled abroad, can be better harnessed with the right ve- hicles. India and Israel have shown how to tap diaspora patriotism through targeted bond issuances and a focus on directing remittances towards investments instead of con- sumption. Africa can do the same. But to do so, we must first reform domestic finan- cial systems, deepen capital markets, and provide credible instruments that offer both re- turns and reassurance.

Above all, Africa must em- brace the new reality: this is no longer an era of altruistic aid, especially with shrinking Overseas Development Assis- tance (ODA). Global financing is increasingly governed by self- interest and economic security. This shift should not discour- age us. Rather, it presents an opportunity to frame Africa’s development agenda in terms of mutual gain. From criti- cal minerals to demographic dynamism, from clean ener- gy to food production, Africa has solutions to many of the world’s strategic challenges. We must make the case, boldly and credibly, that investing in Africa is not charity. It is smart economics.

If global capital is to engage at scale, it wi ll be through confidence and credibility. That means ensuring regional MDBs are wellresourced, well-gov- erned, and visible champions of the continent’s transfor- mation. The architecture for African development finance already exists. The time has come to scale it, with urgency, ambition and unapologetic clarity. n

Africa has the institutional foundations to respond to development challenges, but they require more firepower. Our MDBs are underused assets for the task at hand.

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