Reported by Weng Patrick Atokor l Journalist at Weng Global
Africa has no shortage of development opportunities. The harder question is whether those opportunities can be converted into projects that investors can finance, governments can support and institutions can deliver.
That question was at the centre of remarks by United Bank for Africa (UBA) Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba, at the Forward Africa Leaders Symposium in New York during the United Nations General Assembly engagements.
Participating in a fireside discussion titled “From Mandate to Impact,” Alawuba called for greater attention to the preparation of commercially sustainable and investable projects across the continent. His message was that Africa’s development ambitions need to move beyond identifying opportunities and towards building projects with credible structures, dependable revenues and institutions capable of delivering on their commitments.
The argument is significant because Africa’s investment challenge is not simply about attracting money. It is also about creating the conditions under which capital can be deployed into projects with clear development objectives, realistic financial structures and sufficient accountability.
Why bankable projects matter
An infrastructure proposal may address a genuine public need, but that alone does not necessarily make it investable.
Investors and lenders typically need clarity about how a project will be financed, how revenues will be generated, who is responsible for implementation, what risks exist and how those risks will be managed.
Alawuba’s remarks therefore place project preparation at the centre of Africa’s investment conversation.
According to reporting on the New York event, he stressed the importance of dependable revenues, credible institutions and accountable delivery in unlocking sustainable capital for African projects.
That approach changes the conversation from simply asking how much investment Africa needs to asking whether the projects being presented to investors are sufficiently prepared to absorb that investment.
For governments and development institutions, this distinction can be critical.
A poorly structured project can struggle to attract financing even when its underlying economic or social need is clear. A well-prepared project, by contrast, can give lenders and investors greater visibility over risks, expected returns and implementation responsibilities.
UBA points to projects across African markets
Alawuba used UBA’s experience across African markets to illustrate how financial institutions can participate in development beyond simply providing loans.
Reported examples include telecommunications, energy, road construction and digital infrastructure.
In Chad, Alawuba cited a US$6.56 million telecommunications modernisation project financed by UBA. The project was initiated in 2021, completed in 2025 and the financing was fully repaid, according to reports of his remarks.
The example is relevant to his wider argument because it links financing to a defined development requirement, project completion and repayment.
He also cited a US$45 million loan facility to Oak Asset SPV for road construction in Kenya, according to reporting on the symposium. The facility was described alongside other banking relationships involving government collections and contractor support.
These examples illustrate one aspect of African infrastructure finance: large projects often require more than a single source of funding. They can involve lenders, governments, contractors, project companies and other financial-service providers operating within the same delivery chain.
The role of digital finance
The discussion also extended beyond traditional infrastructure.
Alawuba highlighted digital financial services as another mechanism through which African markets can become more connected.
UBA has said its digital banking platform, Leo, serves customers across its African markets. The bank operates in 20 African countries, according to its corporate information and recent public communications.
UBA has also highlighted the ability of its digital services to operate across multiple African languages, including English, French, Portuguese and Swahili.
The importance of this extends beyond convenience for individual banking customers.
Digital financial infrastructure can help businesses receive payments, access financial services and participate in increasingly connected regional markets. For small and medium-sized enterprises, access to appropriate financial infrastructure can also influence their ability to expand beyond their immediate market.
At the Forward Africa Leaders Symposium, UBA said it was also focused on barriers affecting the movement of capital, trade and investment across African economies. The bank has described differences in regulatory systems, policies and currency environments as among the challenges businesses encounter when operating across markets.
Africa’s opportunity comes with an execution challenge
Africa’s investment narrative has often focused on the scale of its population, natural resources, consumer markets, infrastructure needs and young workforce.
Those factors create substantial opportunities, but opportunity alone does not automatically produce investment.
Capital normally follows projects where investors can understand the commercial model and assess the risks.
That makes project preparation an important part of Africa’s development agenda.
For governments, this means that announcing ambitious infrastructure or economic programmes is only one stage of the process. The subsequent stages — feasibility studies, financing structures, regulatory certainty, implementation capacity and accountability — can determine whether those ambitions become operating assets.
For financial institutions, the challenge is to understand local markets while connecting them with regional and international sources of capital.
Alawuba’s comments reflect that broader role for African banks.
The importance of African financial institutions
African financial institutions occupy a distinctive position in the continent’s development landscape.
International investors may have capital and global experience, while governments understand national priorities. Local and regional banks can potentially sit between these interests, providing knowledge of domestic markets while maintaining relationships with international financial institutions.
UBA describes itself as operating across 20 African countries, alongside operations in the United Kingdom, United States, France and the United Arab Emirates. Its stated customer base exceeds 45 million globally.
That geographical footprint is relevant to the argument about cross-border investment because African businesses frequently operate within markets separated by different currencies, regulations, tax systems and commercial environments.
A financial institution with operations across several markets can potentially help businesses navigate some of those differences.
However, the existence of a regional banking network does not remove the structural challenges involved in African investment. Regulatory coordination, infrastructure gaps, energy reliability, currency volatility, political and institutional risks, and the quality of project preparation can all influence financing decisions.
From infrastructure gaps to investable opportunities
Alawuba’s message also points to the need for prioritisation.
Rather than attempting to finance every proposed project simultaneously, the emphasis is on developing a pipeline of viable projects and ensuring that projects already under way can be completed.
Reports of his remarks indicate that he called for stakeholders to focus on preparing and de-risking a selected pipeline of viable projects while building execution capacity into investment plans. He also identified areas such as dependable power, digital connectivity and logistics as priorities for future bankable projects.
These sectors have a direct relationship with economic productivity.
Reliable electricity affects manufacturing and services. Digital connectivity affects businesses, education, financial services and communications. Efficient logistics affects the movement of goods within countries and across borders.
Investment in these areas can therefore have effects beyond the individual projects themselves.
Africa’s global investment conversation
The setting of the discussion is also important.
The Forward Africa Leaders Symposium took place in New York during the UN General Assembly period, bringing African development questions into a global policy and investment environment.
UBA’s participation reflects the increasingly international nature of the conversation about African capital.
The continent’s development needs are too large to be addressed by domestic public budgets alone. Governments, African financial institutions, development finance institutions, private investors and international partners all have potential roles to play.
But attracting international capital also requires African institutions to present projects in ways that allow global investors to understand their commercial and development characteristics.
This is where the idea of “bankability” becomes important.
A bankable project is not simply a project that Africa needs. It is a project with a sufficiently developed structure for financing institutions and investors to assess whether the risks and expected returns are acceptable.
What the message means for African businesses
The emphasis on bankable projects also has implications for entrepreneurs and businesses.
Small and medium-sized enterprises are a major part of African economies, but many businesses face difficulties accessing long-term capital, expanding across borders and meeting the requirements associated with formal financing.
UBA has said it has a US$6 billion SME funding commitment, linking financing with its broader objective of supporting businesses across African markets.
For businesses seeking investment, the broader lesson is that an attractive idea may not be sufficient.
Investors typically need evidence of market demand, sound financial management, credible leadership, realistic projections and a clear understanding of how capital will be used.
The same principle applies at a much larger scale to infrastructure.
Beyond the promise of Africa
Africa’s development story is often presented through its enormous potential.
But potential is only the beginning.
The more difficult task is converting potential into functioning infrastructure, productive businesses, jobs, trade and services that improve people’s lives.
That requires capital, but it also requires preparation, institutions, accountability and execution.
Alawuba’s intervention at the Forward Africa Leaders Symposium therefore adds to an increasingly important discussion about what comes after the announcement of an investment opportunity.
The question is whether the opportunity has been properly prepared, whether the financial structure is credible, whether the institutions responsible can deliver and whether the project can generate sufficient economic value to sustain the investment.
For Africa, the difference between an opportunity and an investable project may ultimately be the difference between a development plan on paper and infrastructure that people can actually use.
What happens next
The immediate challenge is turning discussions about investment into a pipeline of projects that can be evaluated and implemented.
That will require governments and private-sector institutions to continue working on project preparation, regulatory frameworks, financing structures and implementation capacity.
UBA’s recent public communications around its UNGA activities indicate that the bank is continuing to position itself around capital mobilisation, cross-border business and investment opportunities across African markets.
Whether individual projects secure financing will depend on their specific structures, risks, revenues and institutional arrangements.
What is clear from the discussion in New York is that Africa’s investment conversation is increasingly concerned not only with the size of the opportunity, but with the quality and readiness of the projects designed to capture it.
That is a crucial distinction.
Africa does not simply need more ideas. It needs ideas that can be prepared, financed, implemented and sustained.
Weng Global – Stories beyond borders
Sources
- United Bank for Africa (UBA), corporate media centre and public communications.
- Punch, “UBA showcases Africa’s opportunities on global stage,” September 28, 2026.
- Leadership, “Alawuba Seeks Increased Investment In Bankable Projects,” September 28, 2026.
- UBA Group public LinkedIn communications on the Forward Africa Leaders Symposium and African investment opportunities.
