African Private Sector Leaders Convene in Addis Ababa to Unlock Capital and Scale SDG Delivery

African business leaders, investors and policymakers have called for a step change in how private capital is mobilised and deployed across the continent, as the UN Global Compact, in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), convened a high-level Private Sector Forum on 27 April in Addis Ababa.

Held on the margins of the 12th Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-12), the Forum brought together senior decision-makers to move beyond commitments and accelerate the flow of capital into bankable, scalable projects aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Africa’s Agenda 2063.

Under the theme “Forward Faster: Scaling Private Sector Partnerships to Accelerate the SDGs in Africa,” discussions focused on closing the persistent gap between capital availability and project execution, one of the central barriers to sustainable development across the continent.

The Forum identified five priority areas where coordinated action between business, finance and government can deliver rapid, system-level impact: water and sanitation infrastructure, affordable and reliable energy, sustainable urban development, industrial value chains and the expansion of blended finance mechanisms to crowd in private investment.

Dr Hervé Lado, Africa Head at the UN Global Compact, said: “Africa does not lack capital, it lacks the conditions to deploy it at scale. What we heard clearly in Addis Ababa is that businesses are ready to lead, but they need to structure more bankable pipelines, with credible partnerships, and most importantly to catalyze enabling policy environments with governments. Through Forward Faster, we are helping companies turn ambition into measurable action and ensuring that private capital flows to where it can accelerate the SDGs by delivering the greatest impact for people and planet.”

A central highlight of the programme was a fireside discussion featuring Mr Deribe Asfaw, CEO of the Cooperative Bank of Oromia (CoopBank). Mr Asfaw provided a practical blueprint for how African financial institutions can bridge last-mile financing gaps by leveraging digital innovation to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Reflecting on the success of the bank’s impact-driven models, he stated: “Our alignment with the SDGs is not a policy decision; it is who we are. For example, using blended finance, we developed Michu, a digital, uncollateralised lending platform which uses data for credit scoring, provides instant access to finance and targets MSMEs and underserved customers across trade, services (finance, health, transport and tourism), manufacturing, construction and agriculture. The platform has disbursed over ETB 52 billion (USD 400 million) to nearly 3 million customers, achieving 80% youth and 80% women inclusion, creating approximately 2.7 million jobs, and therefore serving directly over 10 SDGs.”

Roundtable discussions addressed the structural bottlenecks that continue to constrain investment, including project preparation gaps and perceived market risks. Participants explored success stories from across the continent, focusing on risk-sharing instruments and regional project aggregation models designed to build robust pipelines of investable opportunities.

Closing the forum with a call for deeper institutional integration, Ms Ngone Diop, Director of the ECA Sub-Regional Office for West Africa, emphasised that the private sector’s role extends far beyond capital provision to being a primary driver of industrial transformation.

“Africa’s development ambitions are clear, but the scale of financing, innovation and delivery required cannot be met by public resources alone. The private sector is not only a source of capital. It is a driver of jobs, technology, value chains, industrial transformation and practical solutions in the sectors that matter most to our people: energy, water, infrastructure, cities, agriculture, finance, digital innovation and enterprise growth.

The Private Sector Forum has therefore been designed to move us from conversation to action. Let us identify where capital can move, where partnerships can deliver and where policy and financing can work together to accelerate progress on the SDGs. Let us be innovative, practical, yet ambitious,” she noted.

The outcomes of the Forum informed directly intergovernmental deliberations at ARFSD-12 and will feed into global discussions at the upcoming High-Level Political Forum, reinforcing the central role of the private sector in delivering sustainable development.

The Forum concluded with a clear message: Africa’s development trajectory will be shaped by its ability to mobilise private capital at scale and deploy it efficiently. With public resources under increasing pressure, partnerships between governments, businesses and development institutions are no longer optional but essential.

Through its Forward Faster initiative, the UN Global Compact continues to support companies in building capacities, setting ambitious targets, strengthening accountability and scaling solutions across markets. By aligning capital, policy and partnerships, the initiative aims to ensure that sustainable development in Africa is not only achievable, but investable.