AfDB Meetings: Africa targets $250bn DFIs assets to expand electricity
Brazzaville, May 2026 (TBL Africa) Senior African finance leaders have called for coordinated action to unlock about 250 billion dollars in assets held by the continent’s Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) to support electricity access across Africa.
The call was made on Friday at a high-level side event at the ongoing 2026 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
The session focused on supporting Mission 300, a joint initiative of the AfDB and the World Bank Group aimed at connecting 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030.
The event, moderated by AfDB Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, Dr Daniel Schroth, brought together officials from African financial institutions and development partners.
Speaking at the session, AfDB Vice President, Mr Kevin Kariuki, said no single institution could deliver the Mission 300 target alone.
“We need African capital to work more systematically for African development,” Kariuki said.
He said the proposed Mission 300 African DFI Coalition would help strengthen coordination and mobilise financing for energy projects across the continent.
According to him, Mission 300 requires about 238 billion dollars across 30 countries in its first implementation phase, with nearly half expected from the private sector.
Participants emphasised that blended finance mechanisms were critical tools for attracting private and institutional investment into Africa’s energy sector.
The Director of Energy and Natural Resources, West African Development Bank (BOAD), Oumar Tembely, announced a financial commitment in support of the mission 300 initiative on behalf of the president of BOAD.
Chief Executive Officer of the African Guarantee Fund, Mr Constant N’zi, said Africa possessed significant untapped financial resources.
“There is 2.5 trillion dollars sitting in the balance sheets of African commercial banks,” N’zi said.
He explained that the mandate of the African Guarantee Fund was to unlock such capital to finance economic development.
Other speakers identified fragmented coordination, limited institutional capacity and inadequate risk-mitigation instruments as key barriers facing African DFIs.
The proposed coalition is expected to operate within the existing Development Partner Coordination Group, which includes 35 bilateral and multilateral institutions.
The initiative also aligns with the New African Financial Architecture for Development championed by the AfDB.
President and Managing Director of the Trade and Development Bank, Mr Admassu Tadesse, reaffirmed support for Mission 300 by his organisation.
“Mission 300 is an initiative that we have been subscribed to from day one,” he said.
Participants said the discussions reflected growing momentum among African institutions to play a stronger role in financing the continent’s energy and infrastructure priorities.
The AfDB Annual Meetings which started on May 25 is scheduled to end on Friday, May 29. (
