The Africa CEO Forum 2026 concluded successfully on Friday, May 15, in Kigali, with African leaders, investors and business executives reaffirming a collective commitment to “shared ownership” as a pathway to unlocking the continent’s economic scale.
Held over two days under the theme “Scale or Fail: Why Africa Must Embrace Shared Ownership,” the forum brought together more than 2,800 participants from over 77 countries, including heads of state, CEOs, financiers and policymakers. Discussions centered on how Africa can overcome fragmented markets and accelerate growth through coordinated investment, regional integration and stronger public–private collaboration.
Participants emphasized that achieving globally competitive scale will require pooling capital, aligning regulatory frameworks and investing in cross-border infrastructure. The concept of shared ownership — a model encouraging joint investment and risk-sharing across borders — emerged as a central pillar of the forum’s outcomes.
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, who opened the summit, reiterated the need for African-led solutions, stressing that the continent must take ownership of its development trajectory. “Africa has a lot that is not yet being put to good use,” he said. “It is up to us to raise ourselves to the level we want to reach.”
Amir Ben Yahmed, CEO of Jeune Afrique Media Group and President of the Africa CEO Forum, said the discussions had reinforced the urgency of collective action. “This edition has clearly shown that scaling African companies and infrastructure will only be possible if we act together, rather than in isolation,” he noted at the closing session.
Makhtar Diop, Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), underscored the importance of mobilizing African capital at scale. He highlighted growing consensus around the need for trust, risk-sharing mechanisms and stronger regional investment platforms to drive job creation and industrialization.
The forum also highlighted three priority areas for action: expanding cross-border equity investment and mobilizing institutional capital, accelerating regional infrastructure development to integrate value chains, and harmonizing regulations to ease the movement of goods, services, capital and talent.
Jean Guy Afrika, CEO of the Rwanda Development Board, said the strong turnout and high-level engagement reflected a shared recognition that Africa’s growth challenges require coordinated solutions. “The message from Kigali is clear: scale will come from shared responsibility, shared risk and shared execution,” he said.
Several African heads of state attended the summit, including Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria, William Ruto of Kenya, and Mohamed Cheikh Ould El Ghazouani of Mauritania, alongside senior executives from leading global and African firms.
