Yemisi Izuora
Senior African finance are seeking for coordinated action to unlock an estimated $250 billion in assets held by the continent’s development finance institutions to support Mission 300, a joint initiative by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank Group to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030.
They made the call at the African Development Bank Group’s Annual Meeting, in Brazzaville, during a high-level side event moderated by Dr Daniel Schroth, the Bank’s Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, on Mobilising African DFIs and Capital in Support of Mission 300, held at the Kintele International Conference Centre.
“On behalf of the President of BOAD, I am pleased to announce a commitment of BOAD in support of Mission 300 of 1,1 billion FCFA (approximately €1.7 million),” said Oumar Tembely, BOAD’s Director of Energy and Natural Resources. He spoke alongside senior officials from the Trade and Development Bank, Africa50, the African Guarantee Fund (AGF), Cygnum Capital, and the African Development Bank, who had gathered to examine proposals for a dedicated Mission 300 African DFI coalition.
Opening the session, African Development Bank Vice President Kevin Kariuki stressed the scale of the challenge. “No single institution can deliver the Mission 300 goal alone,” he said. “We need African capital to work more systematically for African development. That is why we are bringing together a Mission 300 African DFI Coalition.”
Mission 300 requires approximately $238 billion across the 30 countries in its first two implementation cohorts, with roughly half of that financing expected to come from the private sector. Speakers highlighted blended finance mechanisms, including the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa, as essential tools for attracting private and institutional capital to energy projects. The event also underscored the wider financing potential within African markets.
“There is $2.5 trillion sitting in the balance sheets of African commercial banks,” said Constant N’zi, Chief Executive Officer of the African Guarantee Fund. “The mandate of AGF is to unlock that capital to finance the economy.”
Panellists argued that development finance institutions possess strong local market knowledge, long-term financing capabilities and development mandates aligned with national priorities, yet face persistent barriers, including fragmented coordination, limited institutional capacity, and insufficient access to risk-mitigation instruments.
The proposed Mission 300 coalition aims to address those structural constraints while operating as a light coordination mechanism within the existing Development Partner Coordination Group, which already includes 35 bilateral and multilateral institutions. The initiative also aligns with the New African Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD), championed by the African Development Bank.
Admassu Tadesse, Group President and Managing Director of the Trade and Development Bank, reaffirmed his institution’s support for the initiative. “Mission 300 is an initiative that we have been subscribed to from day one,” he said.
The discussion in Brazzaville reflected a growing momentum among African development finance institutions to play a more central role in financing the continent’s infrastructure and energy priorities, including the Mission 300 initiative.