Recasting Africa’s Development: Proficient Projects and Advisory’s Vision from the Africa CEO Forum 2025

As the Africa CEO Forum 2025 convened with the largest gathering of African and global business leaders, policymakers, and institutional partners in recent years, one truth emerged with resounding clarity: Africa’s moment must be seized through a recalibrated compact between the public and private sectors. This is not a question of ideological alignment, but of strategic necessity. Amid shifting global power dynamics, the rise of economic nationalism, climate urgency, and capital constraints, African nations must boldly chart their own course—rooted in regional integration, infrastructure-led industrialization, digital acceleration, and inclusive governance.

Representing Proficient Projects and Advisory, our team engaged across panels, roundtables, and strategic conversations, firmly grounded in our mission to guide the continent’s development through integrated technical advisory, infrastructure innovation, and results-based public service reform. Our lens throughout the Forum was simple yet profound: Africa’s future lies in building systems—physical, digital, financial, and institutional—that deliver real productivity gains and strategic sovereignty.

The Forum’s tone was set during the Opening Panel, where leading figures explored the possibility of a "New Deal" between the African state and private enterprise. This New Deal, they argued, must go beyond rhetorical commitments and prioritize strategic governance, execution discipline, and visionary public-private alignment. Historically, successful economic transformations have relied on a hybrid model—state-enabled yet entrepreneurially driven. For Africa, this model requires deep investment in critical infrastructure, targeted support for agro-industrial growth, and localized financial instruments capable of de-risking high-impact projects.

At Proficient, we view this "New Deal" as a call to prioritize resilient, integrated infrastructure systems, especially in the transport and mobility sector. Rail infrastructure, long neglected in favor of cost-intensive road systems, must now be seen as central to Africa’s industrialization and trade aspirations. From port-adjacent manufacturing zones in Morocco to the proposed SEZs at tri-border areas in Central Africa, the successful examples share a common trait—logistics ecosystems that reduce cost and enable scalability. Our technical advisory approach supports governments in designing multimodal corridors, aligned with agro-processing and manufacturing hubs, that serve both urban consumption markets and rural production centers.

In the Presidential Panel, five African heads of state debated whether existing continental institutions—such as the African Union and the AfCFTA Secretariat—had truly catalyzed integration and growth. The answers were candid and occasionally critical. Institutional capacity, policy incoherence, and execution inertia were cited as key bottlenecks. This directly aligns with one of Proficient’s core convictions: capital is not Africa’s scarcest resource—execution is. Effective public service delivery requires retooling institutions, upskilling civil servants, and embedding accountability in governance. Digital transformation of government systems must be accelerated not only for efficiency but for transparency and investor confidence.

Our engagements at the Forum also reaffirmed that infrastructure is economic policy. During the Industry Outlook session titled "From Factory to Port", the discussion emphasized that Africa’s industrial success stories are deeply linked to infrastructure proximity—particularly access to energy, transport, and logistics. Yet, replicating these models remains a challenge due to the high cost of capital, fragmented markets, and weak inter-sectoral coordination. Proficient’s strategic infrastructure position is not to pursue isolated megaprojects, but to enable ecosystem infrastructure—logistics networks that are co-designed with energy supply, industrial demand, and market access in mind. We support regulatory frameworks that de-risk investment while ensuring fair local value capture. The private sector’s role here is not merely to build, but to co-develop long-term infrastructure systems with governments and development finance institutions.

No meaningful industrialization can occur without power infrastructure, and energy took center stage in several discussions. The roundtable titled "No Grid, No Growth" was sobering. Africa’s power transmission and distribution bottlenecks were dissected with brutal honesty. While private capital has begun flowing into generation—particularly renewables—transmission remains underfunded, underbuilt, and under-prioritized. Proficient believes the solution lies in strategic public-private balancing. Independent Power Producers (IPPs) must be supported with clearer risk-sharing models, transparent contracting, and currency risk mitigation. Simultaneously, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) should rebalance their portfolios to fund transmission corridors and regional interconnectivity, allowing African states to tap into power pools without sacrificing sovereignty.

Energy, for us, is more than electrons—it is productivity. We continue to advocate for energy investment models that prioritize productive sectors, particularly agriculture, mining, and light manufacturing. The idea that Africa’s energy transition should replicate Western pathways is neither realistic nor desirable. A blended model—combining gas, solar, mini-grids, and regional pools—is far more aligned with the continent’s industrial ambitions. This requires customized policy, bankable frameworks, and technical design that enables energy for work, not just consumption.

Water and sanitation emerged at the Forum as a critical but overlooked enabler of growth. As climate variability increases, Africa’s water infrastructure gaps threaten food security, public health, and urban sustainability. Yet, the financing shortfall remains acute. At Proficient, we approach water and sanitation not as social utilities, but as economic infrastructure with measurable productivity benefits. Smart metering, leakage detection, and data-driven water governance can significantly reduce wastage, while blended finance—combining grants, equity, and guarantees—can unlock private investment in water systems. We support governments in designing private-sector-friendly water policies, ensuring bankability while protecting affordability and public interest.

The Forum also devoted critical attention to Africa’s agro-industrial challenge. With the continent importing over $50 billion worth of food annually, despite vast arable land and a youthful population, the disconnect is glaring. The missing links, again, are value chains—specifically, financing for aggregation, storage, processing, and market linkage. Proficient champions a comprehensive approach to agro-industrial development that includes commodity exchange systems, standardized offtake agreements, and post-harvest technology investment. These components reduce price volatility, improve farmer incomes, and catalyze downstream job creation. By linking agriculture to regional markets through logistics and trade facilitation, Africa can achieve food sovereignty and export competitiveness simultaneously.

Finance was another major theme throughout the Forum. In multiple sessions—including the powerful “Cost of Capital Crisis” panel—the need for localized capital markets was underscored. Africa cannot build its future entirely on concessional loans or Eurobonds. What’s needed is a deepening of domestic capital sources: infrastructure bonds, diaspora bonds, pension fund mobilization, and blended finance structures that de-risk investment at the project and subnational level. Proficient actively supports governments and financial institutions in project preparation, technical capacity building, and credit enhancement design—all of which are critical to unlocking capital at scale. The integration of African capital markets, as discussed, is essential not only for cross-border investment but for creating regional liquidity and pricing benchmarks.

A recurring message in many sessions was that Africa must speak with one voice. Whether in global trade negotiations, climate financing discussions, or development strategy debates, the continent’s voice is often fragmented and reactive. Proficient believes that strategic advisory firms must rise to the challenge of producing Afro-centric, data-driven insights that feed into policymaking and institutional positioning. We aim to align ourselves with continental institutions—such as AUDA-NEPAD and the AfCFTA Secretariat—not just as technical consultants, but as think-tank-level partners, helping to shape Africa’s long-term narrative.

Digital transformation also stood at the center of critical conversations—particularly the role of AI in governance and economic competitiveness. The panel on “AI as a Catalyst for a New Public-Private Deal” laid out both the promise and the gaps. While AI can drive $1.5 trillion in economic value for Africa by 2030, achieving this requires investment in data infrastructure, regulatory clarity, and human capital development. Proficient supports AI adoption in health, finance, and agriculture, and promotes the creation of AI innovation hubs co-funded by governments and private actors. Crucially, Africa must adopt an AI governance model that protects its data sovereignty while enabling innovation. This requires cross-border regulatory alignment, a challenge we are prepared to assist with through regional advisory.

Perhaps one of the most poignant moments of the Forum came during the WFC Strategic Roundtable on women’s leadership. While women lead in entrepreneurship and innovation across Africa, their representation in executive and board roles remains dangerously low. Proficient recognizes that gender diversity is not just a social good—it is a strategic advantage. As part of our advisory work, we advocate for inclusive governance models, talent pipeline development, and capital access strategies specifically tailored to women-led businesses. Moreover, we encourage gender metrics in public procurement and investment selection, embedding accountability into institutional mandates.

The Forum concluded with a rousing CEO Talk titled "Playing Africa’s Winning Hand", asserting that the continent’s greatest untapped asset is its private sector. This sentiment is not unfamiliar to us. Across industries—from energy to logistics, agriculture to fintech—African enterprises are showing resilience, adaptability, and innovation. Yet many still operate in policy vacuums or face capital bottlenecks that limit scale. Proficient’s goal is to serve as a bridge—between strategy and systems, between aspiration and execution. We help firms and governments align around common development objectives, de-risk each other’s commitments, and co-create long-term value.

As the dust settles on the Africa CEO Forum 2025, one thing is certain: Africa’s time is now, but the path is narrow. It requires the courage to reform institutions, the discipline to execute, and the creativity to build systems that are not copy-pasted from abroad but rooted in African realities. Proficient Projects and Advisory remains committed to that vision. Our work going forward will focus on converting dialogue into delivery, insights into infrastructure, and plans into prosperity.

We leave the Forum not just inspired—but emboldened.