Africa Must Move Beyond Financing Gaps, Scale Homegrown Solutions – Forum

Africa must move beyond the persistent narrative of financing gaps and focus on building investment models that can scale homegrown solutions, strengthen productive capacity and accelerate inclusive economic transformation, stakeholders at the inaugural Africa Social Impact Summit (ASIS) Global Action Forum have said.

The stakeholders, drawn from government, business, finance, philanthropy and development institutions, said access to capital alone would not deliver sustainable development unless financing was effectively connected to local innovation, productive capacity, strong institutions and markets.

The call was made at the ASIS Global Action Forum, held on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA81), under the theme, “Financing for Development: Building Resilience and Transforming Emerging Economies.”

The Forum, convened by Sterling One Foundation in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with RALLY — an Indianapolis-based coalition of InnoPower Global and Sagamore — serving as Strategic Co-Hosts, focused on how different forms of capital could be better aligned with African priorities and locally developed solutions capable of achieving impact at scale.

Speaking at the event, Katsina State Governor, Malam Dikko Umaru Radda, said Africa’s development challenges required more than ambition, stressing the need for financing models and partnerships capable of converting opportunities into measurable results.

“Governments must create the conditions for investment, while the private sector, development institutions and philanthropy bring capital, expertise and innovation,” he said.

Chief of Strategic Partnerships at UNFPA, Dr. Mariarosa Cutillo, said development finance would have greater impact when capital was linked to strong partnerships, local ownership and clearly defined outcomes.

She stressed the importance of putting people at the centre of development financing, noting that effective partnerships were critical to translating financial resources into sustainable development outcomes.

Also, CEO of Sagamore, Jay Hein, said Africa was not short of entrepreneurs or locally developed solutions, but needed to bridge the gap between those solutions and the capital, expertise and partnerships required to scale them sustainably.

He said unlocking the continent’s development potential would require stronger connections between homegrown innovation and the financial and technical resources needed to expand successful models.

Chair of the Africa Social Impact Network, Prof. Oyebanji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, said Africa’s transformation would depend not merely on the availability of capital but on how effectively it was connected to productive capacity, innovation, institutions and local markets.

According to him, development financing must be structured in a way that strengthens the capacity of African economies to produce, innovate and create sustainable value.

Chairman of Philips Consulting Limited, Foluso Phillips, similarly said financing development must go beyond funding individual projects to building the capacity of businesses and institutions to drive inclusive growth.

He stressed the need for development finance to support stronger enterprises and institutions capable of sustaining economic activity beyond individual interventions.

CEO of Sterling One Foundation, Olapeju Ibekwe, said the Global Action Forum was designed to extend the outcomes of the ASIS 2025 held in Lagos in July into a global platform for deeper conversations and action on development financing.

She disclosed that the next chapter of the summit, ASIS 2027, would be themed “From Financing to Transformation: Powering Inclusive Growth and Shared Prosperity in Africa.”

The Forum also witnessed the commercial launch of the $300 million Nigeria Distributed Renewable Energy Fund, established by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Africa50 and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL).

The fund is expected to support the expansion of distributed renewable energy solutions in Nigeria, further highlighting the Forum’s emphasis on mobilising capital for scalable, locally relevant solutions.