Private sector leaders call for integrated value chains to unlock Africa’s growth potential at IFC forum

At the recently concluded IFC 2025 African Equity Forum in Lagos, held under the theme “Unlocking Value and Scaling Investment in Africa’s Retail and Manufacturing Sectors,” policymakers, global investors, and industrial leaders gathered to evaluate the continent’s investment landscape and co-develop strategies to strengthen local value chains. In his keynote address, Acha Leke, Chairman of McKinsey Africa, charted Africa’s economic evolution, noting the shift from investor skepticism in the early 2000s to today’s growing strategic interest, an arc captured in his co-authored book Africa’s Business Revolution. While acknowledging macroeconomic challenges in countries like Nigeria and Egypt, he cited data showing increased productivity and 15 African nations now outperforming the continental average. “More than half of the continent now lives above the poverty line, contributing to 40% of Africa’s GDP,” he said. “Public and private sectors must proactively pursue growth opportunities instead of waiting for them to emerge.”
Farouk Gumel, Vice Chairman of TGI Group, during a fireside chat with IFC’s Sandiswa Makola, stressed the importance of recognising and integrating Africa’s informal rural economy into the continent’s value creation agenda. “Africa’s trade with the world is around 2% or maybe 3%,” Gumel noted during the session. “But that’s not the full story. For Africa to have better participation, we must look at the people who often don’t see themselves in these trade conversations – the real Africa, which is 3,000 tribes, spread across this patch of land. That’s the only way we can ensure real transformation.” He highlighted the importance of inclusive business models that don’t alienate the continent’s most vulnerable communities. Highlighting TGI’s commitment to rural job preservation, he explained the company’s unconventional approach: a model of “strategic inefficiency. At TGI, we embrace what we call ‘strategic inefficiency.’
It may sound counterintuitive, but avoiding certain forms of automation helps preserve livelihoods in rural communities. For every tractor we bring in, jobs are lost per hectare. In places where people have no formal education or alternative income, mechanisation destroys lives,” he explained. “When we introduce drones to spray agrochemicals or automate core processes, we risk cutting off entire communities from the value chain. And when people are excluded from production, demand eventually collapses. Preserving manual, community-driven processes isn’t a flaw—it’s a feature of inclusive development.”
Gumel’s remarks drew attention to the long-term value of embedding communities into the business ecosystem, a move that builds trust, stimulates demand, and fosters sustainable growth. In other panels, speakers such as Rozita Kozar (Manager, IFC); Imokha Ayebae (Finance Director, Fidson Healthcare Plc); Danladi Verheijen (Cofounder and Managing Partner, Verod Capital); Dinesh Rathi (Group Finance Director, Tolaram); Mehdi Charfi (Managing Partner, SPE Capital); and Mark Tindall (CEO, Tana Africa Capital), among others, discussed the roles of SMEs and manufacturing in developing Africa’s economica landscape. The event closed with a unified call for policy coherence, intra-African collaboration, and the creation of localized capital structures that ensure investment returns are recycled within the continent. Stakeholders agreed that Africa’s retail and manufacturing future lies not just in finance, but in bridging institutional silos and investing in interconnected ecosystems that link production, distribution, and talent.