Foreign Capital Follows Local Commitment—Popoola

He charged African leaders and financial actors to boost cross-border collaboration to accelerate the integration of African capital markets.

Referencing the African Exchanges Linkage Project (AELP), an initiative backed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), he described it as a model for regional capital connectivity while cautioning that regulatory silos and uneven infrastructure remain barriers.

“Africa must stop waiting for rescue. Our capital, our ideas, and our partnerships are the keys to unlocking sustainable development from within,” he declared at the 2025 Annual Meetings of AfDB in Abidjan, noting that, “Foreign capital follows local commitment.”

“When African institutions lead with clarity and confidence, others follow. But we must first trust and invest in ourselves,” Mr Popoola submitted, advising public and private institutions alike to “speak the language of capital” by designing frameworks that align with the realities and expectations of local investors.

He stressed that financial sovereignty and economic resilience must be built on deliberate domestic capital mobilization and scalable, tech-driven solutions.

“When foreign capital dried up and domestic capital stepped in to fill the void, it revealed something powerful: the capital we often seek abroad already exists within our borders. What are needed now are intentionality and a clear plan to mobilise and deploy it effectively,” the NGX Group chief reflected on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Drawing on his leadership of one of Africa’s premier financial market infrastructure institutions, Mr Popoola outlined three foundational pillars for Africa’s financial future: intentionality, financial literacy, and technology-driven inclusion.

The 2025 meetings marked the final one under the leadership of Mr Akinwumi Adesina, whose decade-long tenure as AfDB president saw the lender’s capital base grow from $93 billion to $318 billion and more than 500 million lives impacted.

“The incoming AfDB leadership and all of us across the public and private sectors must build on this momentum to deliver African-led growth,” Mr Popoola stated.