Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)

Africa's Economic Landscape

The Council on Foreign Relations hosted a Daryl G. Behrman Lecture on Africa Policy, featuring a panel of senior leaders—including Flory B. Lysere of the Corporate Council on Africa, journalist Yinka Adegoke, and Dr. Vera Songwe of the Brookings Institution—to dissect Africa’s evolving economic landscape. The discussion centered on the United States’ pivot from traditional aid toward private‑sector‑led investment, emphasizing industrialization, value‑added processing, and co‑investment models that align with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Panelists highlighted that the AfCFTA now binds 53 of 54 African states into a $3.4 trillion market of 1.4 billion consumers, creating a fertile ground for U.S. firms in sectors such as agribusiness, digital fintech, and critical minerals. Lysere stressed the role of the Corporate Council on Africa in convening public‑private partnerships, while noting the availability of U.S. development finance tools—USDFC, Export‑Import Bank, and TDA—to de‑risk private investment. Adegoke added that African governments are diversifying partnerships beyond the U.S., leveraging leverage from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, and Turkey. Songwe and other speakers underscored that critical minerals are merely a conduit to broader opportunities: energy infrastructure, grid digitization, AI compute capacity, logistics networks, and health services are attracting “smart money.” She cited the International Solar Alliance’s work on grid privatization and the continent’s mere 5 % share of global compute facilities as a massive growth frontier. Logistics, she argued, is essential for intra‑continental supply chains that can mitigate external shocks, such as fertilizer shortages caused by the Ukraine war. The implications are clear: investors must navigate a more competitive, multi‑partner environment while U.S. policymakers need a coherent, visa‑friendly strategy to sustain influence. Aligning commercial diplomacy with African agency will determine whether the U.S. remains a preferred partner or becomes just another bilateral player in a crowded marketplace.