Ahead of the inaugural West Africa Integration and Investment Summit,
Co-chairs Sierra Leone’s President Bio and Elumelu, convene investors
and financial institutions to accelerate capital mobilisation and regional
integration
LAGOS, NIGERIA | 7 OCTOBER 2026 — The President of Sierra Leone and
immediate past Chair of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and
Government, His Excellency Julius Maada Bio, and leading African investor
and Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony O. Elumelu, CFR, have called on West
Africa’s private sector to move decisively from the promise of regional
integration to its delivery — mobilising capital, building competitive industries,
creating jobs and transforming the region’s vast economic potential into
shared prosperity.
Hosting President Bio in Lagos ahead of the inaugural West Africa Integration
and Investment Summit (WAIIS), Mr. Elumelu brought together leading private
sector and financial institution leaders for the inaugural physical meeting of
the WAIIS Private Sector Advisory Board.
The meeting focused on four strategic areas with the potential to reshape West
Africa’s economic future: energy trade and industrialisation; strategic minerals;
agribusiness; and digital transformation.
President Bio set out an ambitious vision for WAIIS to consolidate a regional
market of more than 400 million people and mobilise businesses from within
West Africa and across the world to deepen trade, investment and economic
cooperation.
“We are partners in execution — let us transform ideas into partnerships,
partnerships into investments, and investments into lasting prosperity for our
continent,” President Bio told members 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 initiative to place private capital and
enterprise at the heart of the regional agenda, reaffirming his commitment to
mobilising African and international investment alongside leading African
financial institutions, including the Africa Finance Corporation, Afreximbank,
United Bank for Africa (UBA), Ecobank, etc. to support the execution of priority
projects.
The approach reflects Mr. Elumelu’s philosophy of Africapitalism—the belief
that the African private sector has a defining role to play in catalysing the
continent’s economic transformation through long-term investment in critical
sectors.
Elumelu stressed that Africa’s businesses must increasingly look beyond
national borders and combine capital, expertise and capabilities to build
enterprises and industries capable of competing at scale, while creating jobs
and expanding opportunity across the sub-region.
“This is consistent with our aspirations to create jobs for our young people,” Mr.
Elumelu said. “We have all it takes to be prosperous.”
But private sector ambition, Elumelu noted, must be matched by decisive
government action. ”Governments must provide the policy certainty,
regulatory efficiency and security required to give investors the confidence to
commit capital for the long term.”
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, underscored the importance of
industrialisation and the free movement of goods and services in building a
truly integrated West African market. He stressed that political leaders must
provide the enabling environment, certainty and assurances required for
businesses to invest, produce and trade across borders.
At the centre of the discussion was a shared conviction that West Africa has
the scale, resources, talent and entrepreneurial capacity to become one of
the world’s most dynamic economic regions.
With the Summit now less than two months away, President Bio called on
members of the Advisory Board to move from advocacy to active mobilisation:
engaging prospective investors directly, matching them with viable projects,
and identifying the financing gaps, policy decisions and other interventions
required to move transactions forward.
WAIIS will take place on 17–18 November 2026 at the Julius Maada Bio
International Conference Centre in Lungi, Sierra Leone, bringing heads of
state, investors and business leaders together to advance investment across
energy, strategic minerals, agribusiness and digital transformation.
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
