Chairman of Coronation Group and Access Holdings Plc, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, has called for deliberate policy reforms and innovative financial strategies to unlock Africa’s vast domestic capital potential, estimated at over $4 trillion, to drive sustainable private sector growth across the continent.
Speaking at the 2025 Africa Financial Industry Summit (AFIS) in Casablanca, Morocco, during the opening panel session titled “Unlocking Africa’s Financial Power: Time to Mobilise Domestic Capital at Scale,” Aig-Imoukhuede said Africa’s challenge is not a shortage of funds but the lack of efficient channels and policies to direct available domestic capital into productive investments.
“The capital is available, but it’s not being channelled into the opportunities that exist in Africa. Leaders in both the public and private sectors must focus more on creating the right policy environment to enable this flow of capital,” he said.
Drawing a parallel with Japan’s post-war reconstruction, Aig-Imoukhuede noted that domestic capital, rather than foreign aid, was the foundation of Japan’s economic transformation. He argued that Africa could achieve similar results if governments take deliberate steps to de-risk local investment opportunities, particularly in private markets, industrial companies, SMEs, and large-scale real estate projects.
“When you are seeking to take the next step, it’s not really about public markets only. We need to sit down and de-risk African market investment opportunities so that investors can find both yield and safety at home,” he explained.
On the role of technology and fintech in deepening intra-African financial integration, Aig-Imoukhuede highlighted the ongoing collaboration between Coronation Group, Access Holdings, Safaricom, and M-Pesa, describing it as a model for how digital innovation can translate financial inclusion into long-term wealth creation.
He observed that while Africa has made remarkable progress in expanding access to banking and payment accounts, with over 640 to 700 million financial accounts across the continent, less than 20 million are investment accounts, which limits the continent’s capacity to mobilise local savings into productive investments.
“That is where the true domestic investment mobilisation lies. We must transform fintechs into investment powerhouses through partnerships with banks and supportive government policies,” he said.
Aig-Imoukhuede urged African policymakers to introduce tax incentives and investment-friendly regulations that would encourage citizens to channel savings into equities, funds, and other long-term instruments.
“With the right policy context and collaboration, we can open hundreds of millions of investment accountsIf we focus on the investment side of the financial services sector, Africa will witness a dramatic economic transformation within the next 30 years,” he added.
The summit, which brought together top financial leaders, policymakers, and investors from across the continent, underscored the urgency of mobilising domestic capital to fund Africa’s development and reduce dependence on external borrowing.
