The launch comes at a pivotal moment for Africa, a statement from the institution explained.

The continent’s digital economy is projected to contribute over $700 billion to GDP by 2050, driven by a fast-growing, digitally connected population and accelerating enterprise adoption of technology.

Yet despite this momentum, a persistent gap in long-term institutional capital continues to constrain the development and scaling of high-potential technology businesses across the continent.

Through this commitment, AFC would deploy catalytic capital in leading Africa-focused technology Funds and in particular African-owned fund managers.

In doing so, the AFC aims to address the underrepresentation of local capital in venture funding by catalysing greater participation from African institutional investors and deepening local ownership within the ecosystem.

Africa’s venture capital ecosystem has demonstrated real potential, the continent has produced nine unicorns, some of its leading fund managers have generated returns of up to 128 times the capital originally invested, and African start-ups raised US$3.8 billion in 2025 alone.

Yet local institutional capital remains significantly underrepresented across many fund cap tables, with the majority of venture funding continuing to flow from international sources. AFC’s commitment is designed to shift that dynamic.

President and CEO of AFC, Samaila Zubairu, said:

“Across the continent, young Africans are not waiting for the digital economy to arrive; they are seizing the moment, adopting technology, creating markets and solving real economic problems faster than infrastructure has kept pace.

“That is the investment signal. AFC’s $100 million Africa-focused Technology Fund will accelerate the convergence of growing demand, rapid technology adoption, youthful demographics and the enabling infrastructure we are building.

“Digital infrastructure is now as fundamental to Africa’s transformation as roads, rail, ports and power — enabling productivity, payments, logistics, services, data and cross-border trade, while creating jobs and industrial scale.”

As part of the initial deployment, AFC has made anchor commitments to Lightrock Africa Fund II and Future Africa Fund III, positioning the Corporation across the full innovation lifecycle – from early-stage venture capital through to growth-stage scaling.

These initial commitments represent the first tranche of a broader deployment, with AFC actively evaluating a pipeline of additional Africa-focused funds spanning a range of strategies and stages, with further commitments expected in the near term.

Pal Erik Sjatil, managing partner & CEO, Lightrock, said:

“We are delighted to welcome Africa Finance Corporation as an anchor investor in Lightrock Africa II, deepening a strong partnership shaped by our collaboration on high-impact investments across Africa, including Moniepoint, Lula, and M-KOPA.

“This commitment reflects a shared conviction in the opportunity to back high-growth, technology-enabled businesses with proven business models, strong fundamentals, and clear pathways to profitability.

“With aligned capital, a long-term perspective, and a shared focus on value creation, we are well positioned to support exceptional management teams and scale category-leading businesses that deliver attractive financial returns alongside measurable environmental and social outcomes.”

Future Africa is a venture capital firm that backs founders building technology-enabled solutions to Africa’s most pressing challenges, with a portfolio that includes some of the continent’s most celebrated technology companies.

AFC’s investment in Future Africa Fund III strengthens the pipeline of innovation at the early-stage end of the market, backing founders solving important problems spanning financial inclusion, digital infrastructure, consumer technology and education.

 Iyin Aboyeji, founding partner, Future Africa, said:

“Young Africans are not waiting for the digital economy to arrive; they are already among its most active participants globally. “What they need now are the skills, productive assets and infrastructure to build and scale within it. By investing in AI-native skills, financing productive tools such as phones and laptops, and expanding energy, connectivity and compute infrastructure, we can convert Africa’s greatest asset, its people, into critical participants in the new global economy.

“AFC’s $100 million commitment is the anchor this moment demands. As our first multilateral development bank partner, AFC is sending a clear signal that digital is as fundamental to Africa’s transformation as agriculture, manufacturing and physical infrastructure.

“We trust that other development finance institutions, insurers, reinsurers and pension funds will follow AFC’s lead.”

Overall, the commitment builds on AFC’s broader strategy to deploy capital across integrated infrastructure systems, where digital platforms increasingly complement physical infrastructure to unlock value across sectors.

By combining its balance sheet strength, structuring expertise, and pan-African network, AFC aims to establish itself as the leading institutional investor in Africa’s technology ecosystem, mobilising capital at scale while delivering sustainable, long-term development impact across the continent.

This aligns with the Corporation’s commitment to empowering and elevating the continent’s youth, with more than 260 young artists expressing interest in exhibiting their works at the second edition of the international art fair, organized by Soto Gallery in collaboration with Ecobank Nigeria Limited, AFC and Craneburg Construction Company.

This meticulously curated five-day event, titled “Championing Patronage in Nigerian Art,” will feature the works of emerging and un-galleried artists.

The fair will run from March 27th to March 31st at the Ecobank Pan African Centre, located at 270B1, Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria Island, starting daily at 10:00 AM.

Samaila Zubairu, president & CEO of the Africa Finance Corporation, stated,

“The +234Art Fair aligns with AFC’s advocacy strategy of empowering and elevating Africa’s youthful population, thereby fostering job creation, skills development, value retention and rapid economic growth. We are proud to continue our collaboration with Ecobank to help drive Africa’s creative industry forward by creating a catalyst for promoting African art and artists locally and on the global stage.”

Bolaji Lawal, managing director and Regional Executive, Ecobank Nigeria, shared,

“As a Pan-African bank, this fair is an important initiative in our commitment to economic growth and investing in Africa’s next generation of talent. It offers emerging artists a unique opportunity to showcase their works to key decision-makers, influencers, and a global audience.”

Mrs. Tola Akerele, Founder of +234 Art Fair and Soto Gallery Foundation, emphasized,

“Patronage in the art world goes beyond financial support; it’s about building relationships that allow artists to grow and sustain their creative practices. The 2025 edition of the +234 Art Fair aims to show how meaningful support can impact an artist’s journey and the broader art ecosystem, fostering essential connections along the way.”

The +234 Art Fair celebrates the dynamic talents of Nigeria’s emerging artists, offering them a vital platform to share their work with a broader audience.

Visitors will experience a wide range of artistic expressions, including painting, sculpture, visual and digital art, installations, and more.

The fair will also feature interactive workshops, panel discussions, and networking opportunities for artists, art enthusiasts, and key stakeholders in the creative sector.

The event is expected to draw a diverse group of attendees, including Nigerians, Africans, international residents, government officials, policymakers, diplomats, and global art lovers.

10 Wi-Fi Predictions for 2024 and Beyond

1. In the future 10 Gbps speeds will be commonplace

Fibre broadband deployments will continue to expand in most developed and developing markets, creating a need for an upgrade of home Wi-Fi networks to pass on the increased bandwidth to the device, which will drive the rapid adoption of Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7.

The rapid adoption of Wi-Fi 6E/7 will also be driven by its ability to access additional spectrum in the 6GHz band as more countries open the band.

2. The capabilities of Wi-Fi 7 will drive immersive experiences and advance gaming and video content

A recent Bain & Company report forecasts that global revenue for video gaming could increase by another 50 percent over the next five years.

In a sport where milliseconds count, networking equipment will be just as crucial to the game as the speed of the gaming rig. Wi-Fi 7 will be critical for speed and near-zero latency, and game developers will break new barriers with immersive experiences. Wi-Fi 7 client devices have already been released in 2023 with Qualcomm chipset with more to come in 2024.

3. OpenRoaming growth will continue and extend to integrate with private 5G and IoT networks in 2024, reaching a critical point of exponential growth by 2026 when tens of millions of hotspots will be enabled. Deployments of OpenRoaming (with Passpoint), continue to rise as more brands and identity providers recognize the value of the federation to enable seamless connectivity access across different networks.

4. Convergence will progress enabling access to private and/or public 5G services over Wi-Fi. We expect network executives will continue deploying Wi-Fi and cellular in the coming years, with Wi-Fi 6E/7 for indoor, on-campus, and fixed network situations and 5G/cellular for outdoor, off-campus, and mobile environments.

Rather than competing with 5G over emerging high-performance use cases, the Wi-Fi community continues to work on coexistence with 5G, especially around identity management, authentication, and policy management.

5. NaaS (Network as a Service) will rise beyond early adopters (e.g. managed Wi-Fi in multi-apartment units) spreading quickly to traditional enterprises where networks provide cloud-first, software-defined, application-centric environments.

NaaS is attracting customers because it accelerates and simplifies the deployment of devices in today’s shortened equipment replacement and improves security with the delivery of continuous security updates that prevent and reduce breaches and outages.

6. The role of AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) cannot be overstated, with Adaptive AI set to explode on networks, from enabling Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) to predicting network resourcing needs. AI will help enterprises and ISPs speed up troubleshooting; streamline monitoring; and proactively anticipate outages, equipment failures, and performance degradation.

7. Outdoor AFC will initially be successful in rural connectivity, in countries that have opened large portions of the 6GHz spectrum to Wi-Fi. We expect 6GHz low-power indoor (LP) devices with an average transmit power of 24 dBm to proliferate quickly for indoor applications such as residential mesh, indoor public venues, and high-density enterprise networks.

We also expect 6GHz very low-power indoor (VPI) devices with 14 dBm maximum transmit power to be quickly adopted for short-range indoor applications such as AR/VR/XR, streaming, and gaming. These device classes do not require Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) coordination with the incumbents.

8. New IoT technology will help unify connectivity across multiple home devices, transforming home users’ experience with IoT devices. Matter— a new industry standard launched in 2023 provides reliable, secure connectivity across multiple device manufacturers. Given the weight of players involved (e.g., Apple, Amazon, Google, Samsung SmartThings), we expect the adoption of Matter-certified products will be exponential in the next three years, validating Wi-Fi’s central role in the smart connected home and buildings.

9. Pilot projects and trials of TIP Open Wi-Fi will proliferate in developing countries and price-sensitive markets due to its cost-effectiveness and the benefits offered by an open disaggregated model. Well-established wireless local-area network (WLAN) vendors will continue working to make themselves more cost-effective in these markets through massive investment in machine learning and AI and an integrated Wi-Fi + 5G offering to enterprises.

10. Augmented and virtual reality will gain a larger share of our daily lives at home and work, but it will require indoor broadband networks to adapt with improvements in user interfaces and network capabilities to cater for larger group of users.

According to Bloomberg, the metaverse’s economy is expected to generate $800 billion by 2025 and $2.5 trillion by 2030. Thus, the metaverse is the universe of the future. Major brands are making substantial investments in this technology.

Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance, said:

“There has never been a more exciting time for Wi-Fi with technologies such as OpenRoaming more widely available than ever and addressing the challenges in areas including Guest Wi-Fi provision, IoT deployments and private cellular networks. The HaLow program is creating huge interest in low-power extended range Wi-Fi and we are looking forward to working with the Wi-Fi ecosystem to develop industry trials for Wi-Fi 7 during 2024.”

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Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, will on Friday, September 1, unveil a ₦1.6 trillion ($2.1 billion) pipeline of 30 projects at the first Enugu State Investment and Economic Growth Stakeholder Roundtable.

The governor is also scheduled to launch the Enugu State Integrated Sector-Based Productivity Growth Strategy.

This was made known in a statement released by the Secretary of the State Government (SSG), Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, in Enugu on Monday.

He said the Investment and Economic Growth Roundtable, which is a precursor to the launch of the maiden multi-stakeholder and fully transactional Diaspora and Investment Forum scheduled for the second quarter of 2024, would hold in Enugu and also draw investors from across various industries locally and internationally.

“The ₦1.6 trillion Naira ($2.1 billion) project pipeline spans several industries, including transportation and healthcare infrastructure, as well as energy, power, and agro-allied industrialization.

“Senior executives from the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank Group, the International Finance Corporation, the African Export-Import Bank, the United Kingdom Department for Trade and Business, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), as well as the Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund, commercial banks, corporate pension funds, private equity funds, infrastructure funds, and other domestic financial institutions will convene in Enugu to chart a course for effectively mobilising private capital for large-scale infrastructure projects, including net-zero aligned projects that can unlock Enugu State’s and South-Eastern Nigeria’s economic potential.

“The Roundtable discussion will cover a range of topics, including addressing barriers to investment and economic growth in Enugu State; improving investor confidence in the State understanding investor’s risk and return preferences; and identifying partnership opportunities for project preparation and co‑investments” he stated.

According to Prof. Onyia, this is in line with Governor Mbah’s determination to grow the Enugu State economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion.

“Implementation of the State’s Integrated Sector-Based Productivity Growth Strategy will ensure that those sectors with the greatest potential for growth are supported through measures to reduce unnecessary regulation and boost innovation and growth.

“The new administration recognises private investment as a key driver of long-term economic growth and prosperity, and the roundtable discussion will lay the groundwork for long-term partnerships and cooperation that can catalyse Enugu’s accelerated economic growth.

“Part of this administration’s agenda is the development of an Investment Plan for the Integrated Sector-Based Productivity Growth Agenda with a credible pipeline of projects that will advance transformative change in key sectors. When it is released, the Plan is expected to incentivise and encourage private sector investors, as well as other stakeholders, to participate in the financing and delivery of critical infrastructure investment projects.

“We are optimistic about the future of PPPs and investments in Enugu as we build a clear legal, institutional and policy framework that should provide the business-friendly environment that can enhance private sector participation and catalyse the scale of financing required to deliver these essential public infrastructure services.

“This investment roundtable is therefore the first step towards generating investment interest in these critical areas and charting a clear path to bankability for these projects”, he concluded.