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African Development Bank, partners launch $5.2 million project to help catalyse diaspora investment in eight African countries

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African Development Bank

The project will assist the recipient countries to identify the best methods for effectively mobilizing the human and financial capital of the diaspora

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, June 14, 2024/APO Group/ — 

The African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org), the African Union Commission (AUC), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have signed a protocol agreement for $5.2 million in grant financing to strengthen investment, human capital and philanthropic engagement from the diaspora in eight African countries.

The agreement was signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Tripartite Funding and Implementation Agreement will support the ‘’Streamlining Diaspora Engagement to Catalyze Private Investments and Entrepreneurship for Enhanced Resilience’’ (SDE4R) project. The target countries are The Gambia, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Togo and Zimbabwe.

The project will assist the recipient countries to identify the best methods for effectively mobilizing the human and financial capital of the diaspora, either to support socioeconomic development by reviving the domestic private sector, or recovery from political or humanitarian crisis by leveraging the expertise and networks of Diaspora groups.

Dr. Abdul Kamara, African Development Bank Deputy Director General for East Africa, said the project will stimulate business opportunities and technical support for socio-economic resilience across the continent by promoting innovative financing tools and skills transfer initiatives.

This intervention will help spur investments supporting the most vulnerable groups in beneficiary countries, including forcibly displaced populations and hosting communities

He added: “The signing of the SDE4R project grant agreement today is an important step towards leveraging the diaspora engagement to catalyze private investments and entrepreneurship for enhanced resilience among populations, including women, youth, and rural dwellers. This intervention will help spur investments supporting the most vulnerable groups in beneficiary countries, including forcibly displaced populations and hosting communities.”

Ms. Betty Mupenda Wangozi, Acting Director of the African Union Commission’s Citizens and Diaspora Organization Directorate, underscored the timeliness of the agreement in view of her organization’s lead role in coordinating efforts to harness the contribution of the diaspora to Africa’s development. She added that the SDE4R project will greatly advance the AU 2063 Agenda in the beneficiary countries.

Ms. Mariama Cisse Mohamed, Director of the IOM Special Liaison Office in Addis Ababa said the project aligned with her organisation’s mandate to promote socio-economic development through migration while providing humanitarian assistance to migrants in need, including refugees and internally displaced populations. “As such, this agreement constitutes a stepping stone for more comprehensive interventions envisioned across the African continent based on existing and scalable initiatives on diaspora engagement for private sector development.”

In addition to governments of the eight target countries, the project is expected to have 10,000 direct beneficiaries and 40,000 indirect beneficiaries in communities affected by conflict, climate change and other humanitarian and environmental disasters.

The Bank approved the SDE4R project on 4 July 2023, with funding from its Transition Support Facility (TSF). The International Organization for Migration will implement the project over three years with strategic oversight, guidance and advisory from the African Union Commission. This is a concrete example of a Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus partnership focused on implementation of strategic frameworks and shared priorities.

An estimated 160 million Africans are in the diaspora; the nearly $96 billion they remitted to the continent in 2021 far exceeded the $35 billion in official development assistance that flowed into Africa in the same year.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this press release issued on 2 December 2023 included an error in the headline and lead paragraph. This version updates the dollar value of the grant financing.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Energy

OPEC Secretary General to Address Investors at Libya Energy & Economic Summit (LEES) 2027

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Etu Energias

OPEC Secretary General Al Ghais’ participation at LEES 2027 comes as Libya accelerates production, investment and energy infrastructure expansion

TRIPOLI, Libya, October 22, 2026/APO Group/ –OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais will speak at the Libya Energy & Economic Summit in Tripoli (January 23–25), underscoring the organization’s support for Libya’s next phase of energy growth.

Al Ghais’ participation comes as Libya accelerates efforts to raise production, attract international capital and modernize its upstream sector. The country’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) has laid out ambitious oil production targets in the near term and substantially higher output as investment flows into exploration and field development.

 




 
 

As a leading voice in the global oil community, his participation brings a global market perspective to a summit increasingly focused on execution. OPEC expects oil demand to remain robust, while Al Ghais has repeatedly stressed the need for timely investment to prevent future supply constraints and maintain reliable energy security.

Libya occupies a distinctive position within that outlook because of its substantial resource base and continued production growth. The country holds Africa’s largest proven crude reserves, while its light, sweet crude and proximity to European markets strengthen its strategic investment proposition.

The Ministry of Oil and Gas is driving the policy and diplomatic agenda underpinning this expansion. Under Minister Dr. Khalifa Abdulsadek, Libya is advancing regulatory reforms, international partnerships and investment frameworks designed to support production growth while supporting the country’s role in regional and global energy markets.

The NOC remains the commercial engine of that strategy, converting licensing opportunities into exploration, production and joint-venture activity. Chairman Masoud Suleiman is overseeing an investment drive spanning mature fields, new acreage, infrastructure and international partnerships.

LEES 2027 will provide a direct platform for that strategy to reach global investors. The fifth edition will bring together governments, national oil companies, international operators, financiers and energy service companies to examine upstream opportunities, gas development, infrastructure, power and renewable energy.

The summit has already established itself as a platform for major commercial engagement, with more than $20 billion in energy investments and deals associated with previous editions. With Secretary General Al Ghais joining the Ministry and NOC leadership, LEES 2027 will connect Libya’s investment agenda directly with the global oil market’s most influential institutional forum.

For more information about LEES 2027 visit www.LibyaSummit.com and to sponsor or secure your participation as a delegate, please contact sales@energycapitalpower.com.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital & Power.

 




 

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African Energy Leaders Call for Action on South-South Oil and Gas Partnerships

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African Energy Chamber

At AEW 2026, industry representatives from Africa and the Caribbean say joint ventures, enforceable local-content rules and regional financing are needed to turn petroleum resources into domestic industrial growth

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, October 17, 2026/APO Group/ –African and Caribbean energy leaders called for stronger cross-border investment, technology transfer and enforceable local-content requirements to ensure emerging oil and gas producers capture more value from their resources during the session South-South Energy Partnership: Advancing Africa’s Oil and Gas Future in 2026 at African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 in Cape Town.

 




 
 

Ndapwilapo Selma Shimutwikeni, CEO, RichAfrica Consultancy, said partnerships could accelerate skills development.

“From a business perspective, we need to build partnerships that encourage joint ventures between experienced countries and emerging countries like Namibia,” she said. “We need to look beyond just oil production and actually look at the entire value chain.”

Building on Shimutwikeni’s remarks, Gilbert Yevi, Lead Consultant, Grenada Hydrocarbon Technical Working Group, called for partnerships that share risks and benefits rather than simply replace one source of financing with another.

We want cooperation and a collaboration in risk sharing, skill sharing, and sharing in the benefits

“We want cooperation and a collaboration in risk sharing, skill sharing, and sharing in the benefits,” he said.

Yevi also advocated regional training centers to pool expertise and help emerging producers access established industry capabilities.

Expanding on the topic of local content, Eric Williams, Principal Consultant and President, Royal Triangle Energy Solutions, said policies must be linked to a broader national development strategy, using petroleum resources to build domestic industries rather than focusing solely on exports.

“The Trinidad model is about using the molecules to develop the country,” he said, arguing that this vision should shape negotiations with upstream investors and the terms of petroleum contracts.

Omar Farouk Ibrahim, Regional Chair for Africa, World Energy Council, said national sovereignty concerns continued to limit practical regional cooperation, despite public commitments to collaboration.

“The first question they ask is: ‘Will the industry be in my territory?’ If it’s not, why should I? And for as long as we have this mentality, believe me, this cooperation and collaboration we’re talking about will just be theory,” he said.

Across the discussion, speakers emphasized that cooperation must translate into financing, enforceable commitments and local capabilities that endure beyond individual projects.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

 




 

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Nigeria NOW! opens its project boardrooms to global investors in Abuja

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Nigeria

With Nigeria’s annual mining revenue up more than tenfold to above N70bn, Nigeria NOW! brings global investors to Abuja on 19 and 20 November, where the Minister of Solid Minerals Development is Chief Host

First and foremost all international investors coming to Abuja should understand that Nigeria is ready and open for business

LONDON, United Kingdom, October 21, 2026/APO Group/ –Platinum group metals, gold, nickel, copper, lithium and rare earth elements lie together in one mineral province in Kaduna State, which the Minister of Solid Minerals Development announced in June as world-class and the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency has verified. The Ministry opens its doors to global investors at Nigeria NOW!, held at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja on 19 and 20 November.

 




  

Processing is following the discoveries, as lithium facilities of $600m in Nasarawa State and $200m near Abuja sit alongside a $400m rare earth processing project in Nasarawa, and mining lease applicants must now submit value-addition plans. Annual mining revenue has risen from about N6bn before the current administration to more than N70bn by the end of 2025.

The routes to export markets are moving too, as the Federal Executive Council has approved deep seaports at Bakassi and Ondo as public-private partnerships, with the Bakassi port alone valued at $2.27bn.

With a month to go, investors and developers travelling to Abuja will meet these projects at close quarters. In investor boardrooms, the Government of Nigeria will review specific projects in depth, from large-scale infrastructure to multilateral programmes such as Mission 300.

Speaking to Energy News Network in September, Tunde Arisekola, Senior Advisor, Geological and Minerals Information at the African Minerals Development Centre, who joins the minerals session on the first day, said that “first and foremost all international investors coming to Abuja should understand that Nigeria is ready and open for business”. In the same interview he described Nigeria’s economy as “stable, safe, peaceful and welcoming to all international investors”.

The programme opens with a welcome from the Chief Host, H.E. Dr Oladele Henry Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals Development, followed by sessions on how the Ministry of Power will drive capacity into Nigeria’s industrial hubs and on the policies opening the minerals sector to foreign investment, including domestic processing and value addition. The second day turns to the pipeline of transport and port infrastructure and the $1bn Domestic Green Bond, and closes with an investors’ clinic on the 2025 Tax Act.

Lagos State Government, a Nigeria NOW! partner, now regulates its own electricity market after NERC transferred oversight to the Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission. Hon. Biodun Ogunleye, Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, told Energy News Network that “capital follows bankable cashflows”. The state’s job, he said, is “to create both the infrastructure plan and the commercial architecture that makes that plan financeable”.

On Friday 20 November, YES! Nigeria runs alongside the main programme under the theme “Empowering Today’s Entrepreneurs, Building Tomorrow’s Industrialists”. Abuja University and Philomath University are partners, and the Youth Sustainable Development Network is Community Partner. Its opening session hands the stage to young Nigerians already at work in the sector, among them Damilola Hamid Balogun of YSDN and Emmanuel Terwase of Boost Power.

Nigeria NOW! is held under the patronage of the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, with the Lagos State Government, the Nigerian Indigenous Women in Mining & Natural Resources Organisation, Women in Mining, Nextier and The Electricity Hub as partners.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of EnergyNet Ltd..

 




 

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