The Infrastructure Priorities for Africa's Next Decade

Africa’s next decade of infrastructure spending will be shaped by two critical sectors — energy and transport — with the eventual goal of unlocking manufacturing and intra-African trade, according to Bowale Odumade, founder and CEO of SeedTree Capital.

In an interview, Odumade argued that electricity is the continent’s most urgent priority. “Nearly half of Africans lack reliable electricity, and without it, everything else becomes more difficult and more expensive,” she said. Africa faces an annual infrastructure financing gap of over $100 billion, according to the African Development Bank, and poor power supply, inefficient ports and weak rail networks continue to drag on productivity and trade.

Odumade sees transport and logistics as the next frontier. Ports, roads and rail systems need upgrading and new construction, she said, because high logistics costs make African goods uncompetitive and restrict access to regional markets — a critical obstacle for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which aims to connect 54 countries.

Once reliable power and efficient transport are in place, Odumade believes the downstream opportunity lies in manufacturing, allowing Africa to process raw materials domestically and capture more value.

What Energy, Transport and Logistics Investments Mean for Africa's Economic Future

Why Energy Remains the First Domino

Odumade’s emphasis on electricity echoes a widely held view among development economists: without reliable power, industrialisation stalls and production costs rise. The AfDB’s $100 billion financing gap estimate underscores how far the continent still has to go, but it also signals the scale of the investment opportunity for both domestic and international players.

Transport and Logistics: The Missing Link for Trade

Inefficient logistics raise the cost of moving goods across Africa, directly undermining the AfCFTA’s promise. With the free trade area now in implementation, the pressure to upgrade ports, roads and rail will only intensify. Investors who can package transport projects with clear links to trade corridors stand to benefit from policy tailwinds.

The Manufacturing Leap — Only If the Foundations Are Set

Odumade’s logic is sequential: manufacturing can only emerge as a major investment theme once energy and logistics are fixed. This has implications for how governments sequence their infrastructure plans, and for where private capital should flow first.

The Real Bottleneck: Bankable Projects, Not Capital

Perhaps the most striking insight from Odumade is that Africa’s pension funds, insurers and sovereign wealth funds hold more than $2 trillion in long-term assets, yet less than three percent is invested in infrastructure. The issue, she says, is not a lack of money but a shortage of well-prepared, investment-ready projects. That points to a need for stronger project preparation facilities, regulatory consistency and public-private partnership frameworks.

Turning Africa's Infrastructure Ambition into Investment Reality

  • For governments and development finance institutions: Prioritise project preparation by establishing dedicated facilities that can turn infrastructure concepts into bankable proposals with realistic assumptions and credible sponsors, as Odumade recommended.
  • For domestic institutional investors (pension funds, insurers): Explore blended finance structures that de-risk energy and transport projects, allowing the $2 trillion pool to be gradually redirected into infrastructure.
  • For international developers and financiers: Focus on energy generation, transmission and distribution, where the need is greatest and the knock-on effects on industrial competitiveness are largest.
  • For businesses and exporters: Monitor port and rail modernisation efforts along AfCFTA trade corridors, as improvements will lower logistics costs and open new market access.
  • For policymakers: Strengthen regulatory frameworks and contract enforcement to give investors confidence that tariffs and offtake agreements will be honoured — a key factor in attracting long-term capital.