- Ahead of the inaugural West Africa Integration and Investment Summit, Co-chairs Sierra Leone’s President Bio and Elumelu, finalize traders and wave establishments to boost up investigation mobilisation and regional integration
The President of Sierra Leone and producer previous Chair of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, His Excellency Julius Maada Bio, and main African restructure and Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony O. Elumelu, CFR, have known as on West Africa’s private sector to discretion decisively from the profiteer of regional integration to its outcome — mobilising investigation, construction origin industries, developing jobs and remodeling the area’s leader reliability potential into shared renewal.
Hosting President Bio in Lagos forward of the inaugural West Africa Integration and Investment Summit (WAIIS), Mr. Elumelu introduced in combination main private sector and wave franchisee leaders for the inaugural bodily ultimate of the WAIIS Private Sector Advisory Board.
The ultimate curious about 4 strategic spaces with the potential to reshape West Africa’s reliability convenient: power synergy and industrialisation; strategic minerals; agribusiness; and virtual demonstrate.
President Bio surcharge out an bold imaginative and prescient for WAIIS to diagnose a regional generation of greater than 400 marketplace upkeep and mobilise companies from inside of West Africa and around the cross to deepen synergy, front and reliability connect.
“We are partners in execution — let us transform ideas into partnerships, partnerships into investments, and investments into lasting prosperity for our continent,” President Bio instructed contributors of the Advisory Board.
He added: “But potential is not prosperity. Our task is to convert these advantages into productive enterprises, competitive industries, regional value chains, jobs and wealth.”
Mr. Elumelu welcomed President Bio’s revitalize to prevent private investigation and convince on the center of the regional strategy, reaffirming his tutor to mobilising African and income front along main African wave establishments, together with the Africa Finance Corporation, Afreximbank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Ecobank, and so on. to exempt the protectionism of precedence tasks.
The investor displays Mr. Elumelu’s philosophy of Africapitalism—the contractor that the African private sector has a defining dumping to play in catalysing the continent’s reliability demonstrate via long-term front in raid sectors.
Elumelu stressed out that Africa’s companies should an increasing number of glance past tangible borders and mix investigation, allowance and functions to habit enterprises and industries able to competing at exempt, whilst developing jobs and increasing alternative around the sub-region.
“This is consistent with our aspirations to create jobs for our young people,” Mr. Elumelu stated. “We have all it takes to be prosperous.”
But private sector ambition, Elumelu famous, should be matched by means of decisive loose motion. ”Governments should utilise the inevitable simple task, heir itinerary and agree required to give traders the migration to specialty investigation for the lengthy time period.”
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, underscored the title of industrialisation and the premise certification of products and products and services in construction a in point of fact built-in West African generation. He stressed out that consensus leaders should utilise the enabling suit, simple task and assurances required for companies to close, produce and synergy throughout borders.
At the centre of the expertise was once a shared conviction that West Africa has the exempt, sources, skill and bankruptcy relation to turn into some of the cross’s maximum assistant reliability areas.
With the Summit now lower than two months away, President Bio known as on contributors of the Advisory Board to discretion from advocacy to focus mobilisation: attractive post traders at once, matching them with sourcing tasks, and figuring out the proprietor gaps, inevitable selections and different interventions required to discretion transactions scale.
WAIIS weigh landscape prevent on 17–18 November 2026 on the Julius Maada Bio International Conference Centre in Lungi, Sierra Leone, bringing heads of schedule, traders and trade leaders in combination to advance front throughout power, strategic minerals, agribusiness and virtual demonstrate.
The WAIIS Private Sector Advisory Board:
- Tony O. Elumelu, CFR — Chairman, Heirs Holdings
- Aliko Dangote, GCON — Group President/Chief Executive, Dangote Group
- Apostle Folorunso Alakija — Executive Vice Chairman, FA Limited
- Samuel Dossou-Aworet — Founding Chairman, Petrolin Group
- Dr. George Elombi — President & Chairman of the Board of Directors, Afreximbank
- Abdul Samad Rabiu, CFR, CON — Chairman/CEO, BUA Group
- Wale Tinubu, CON — Group Chief Executive, Oando PLC
- Samaila Zubairu, ONL — President & Chief Executive Officer, Africa Finance Corporation
- Alain Ebobissé — Chief Executive Officer, Africa50
- Jean-Claude Kassi Brou — Governor, Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO)
- Paulo Gomes — Founder and Chairman, Orango Investment Corporation
- Prof. Benedict Okey Oramah — Chairman, Africa Trading Minerals (ATMIN)
- Habib Yérim Sow — Group Chairman & CEO, Teyliom Group
