Nairobi to Host the Continent’s Premier Infrastructure and Investment Forum
For the first time, Africa’s most influential infrastructure financiers, fund managers, investors and industry leaders will gather in Nairobi with a single, urgent mandate: unlock domestic capital and turn the continent’s industrial ambitions into jobs, growth and lasting economic transformation.
Hosted by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) in partnership with the Government of Kenya, the inaugural Africa We Build Summit will take place on 23–24 April 2026. Convened under the theme “Infrastructure as the Engine of Industrialisation”, the Summit will bring together the decision-makers, capital allocators and project leaders needed to originate bankable opportunities, deepen regional integration and accelerate Africa’s industrial development.
A Platform Built for Delivery
The Africa We Build Summit signals a decisive shift — from standalone projects to integrated infrastructure systems that work at continental scale. Discussions will span regional corridor investments, expanded rail and port networks, cross-border energy systems and the development of strategic minerals value chains, with a focus on what can be financed, built and delivered.
H.E. Dr William Samoei Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya, will deliver the keynote address, affirming the highest-level political commitment to advancing regional integration and large-scale industrial development across the continent.
Commenting ahead of the Summit, Samaila Zubairu, President and CEO of AFC, set out the central challenge — and the opportunity it presents:
“Africa is not capital-poor; it is capital-trapped. The opportunity now is to channel that capital into infrastructure and industry at scale — transforming resources into productivity, jobs, and long-term prosperity.”
Mobilising Africa’s Domestic Capital
A primary focus of the Summit will be directing a far greater share of Africa’s substantial domestic capital base towards bankable, globally competitive infrastructure and industrial projects. The gathering is designed not as a forum for debate alone, but as an execution-focused platform — anchored in investable pipelines and partnerships built to deliver.
Proof of what is possible when capital, policy and projects align is already emerging. Initiatives such as the Lobito Corridor and national financing vehicles like the Kenya National Infrastructure Fund demonstrate how integrated economic ecosystems can be built — connecting natural resources to energy, logistics, processing and markets.
The Summit will also mark the launch of the State of Africa’s Infrastructure Report 2026 — the most comprehensive analysis to date of the continent’s cross-continental investment landscape. The report will interrogate investment gaps, capital flows and priority project pipelines, providing the intelligence needed to inform capital deployment and project execution in direct support of the Africa We Build agenda.
East Africa in Focus
Recognising the East African Community as one of the continent’s most dynamic regional blocs, the Summit will shine a spotlight on priority corridors and connectivity projects across the region. Chief among these is the Northern Corridor — linking the Port of Mombasa to Uganda, Rwanda, the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan — alongside complementary routes connecting coastal assets to the broader hinterland.
Discussions will advance practical progress on regional road and rail connectivity, including upgrades to key cross-border highways, and will push forward the broader East African Railway Master Plan.
Running through all of these conversations will be a central and non-negotiable theme: linking power and minerals to value addition — ensuring that Africa’s infrastructure investments deliver genuine, long-term economic transformation, not simply extraction.
