Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio and Heirs Holdings Chairman Tony O. Elumelu convened leading West African financiers and industrial leaders in Lagos on October 7, 2026, to mobilize private capital for large-scale regional investment ahead of the upcoming West Africa Integration and Investment Summit (WAIIS).
Co-chairing the inaugural physical meeting of the WAIIS Private Sector Advisory Board, the leaders outlined a joint strategy to convert the region’s raw economic potential into competitive industries, cross-border value chains, and sustainable employment across a market of over 400 million people.
The advisory board meeting focused on accelerating investments across four high-priority sectors: energy trade, strategic minerals, agribusiness, and digital infrastructure. Emphasizing his philosophy of Africapitalism, Elumelu called on African businesses to pool capital and expertise to build continent-scale enterprises. Major pan-African financial institutions—including the Africa Finance Corporation, Afreximbank, United Bank for Africa, and Ecobank—reaffirmed their commitments to back bankable regional projects, while Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu urged West African governments to establish clear regulatory frameworks and guarantee the free movement of goods to inspire long-term investor confidence.
With the inaugural summit scheduled for November 17–18, 2026, at the Julius Maada Bio International Conference Centre in Lungi, Sierra Leone, President Bio urged advisory board members to transition from policy advocacy to active deal-making. The advisory board—which features prominent African business figures including Aliko Dangote, Folorunso Alakija, Abdul Samad Rabiu, and BCEAO Governor Jean-Claude Kassi Brou—will focus over the coming weeks on matching prospective international investors with priority infrastructure and industrial projects across the sub-region.
ABJ/APA