West African business leaders mobilise capital for regional investment ahead of WAIIS Summit
President Julius Maada Bio and billionaire investor Tony Elumelu lead push to transform 400-million-person market into investment, industrialisation and jobs.
West Africa’s leading business executives and financial institutions have pledged to mobilise capital for regional investments, industrial development and job creation ahead of the inaugural West Africa Integration and Investment Summit (WAIIS) scheduled for November 17–18 in Sierra Leone.
The commitment followed the second meeting of the WAIIS Private Sector Advisory Board in Lagos, Nigeria, on October 13, co-chaired by Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio and Heirs Holdings Chairman Tony O. Elumelu.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu attended the meeting, signalling the state government’s support for the regional investment initiative.
The board brings together major industrial conglomerates, energy and mining companies, banks and development finance institutions to place private enterprise at the centre of West Africa’s economic integration agenda.
Its mandate includes identifying bankable projects, mobilising African and international capital, and advising governments on policy reforms needed to unlock investments.
Discussions focused on four priority sectors: energy trade and industrialisation, strategic minerals, agribusiness and digital transformation.
President Bio said the summit would help consolidate West Africa’s market of more than 400 million people by strengthening trade, investment and economic cooperation.
“West Africa is very serious about ECOWAS, and ECOWAS has been around for 50 years. But in those 50 years we have not done enough to integrate and build a consolidated market,” he said.
“We must bring together a common market that serves the more than 400 million people we have. That is why I am mobilising the private sector in West Africa and around the world to come together and get serious about a free market in West Africa.”
Ahead of the Lagos meeting, President Bio also met Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye in New York to brief him on preparations for WAIIS.
Faye, who chairs the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Authority of Heads of State and Government, reaffirmed the importance of aligning the summit with the bloc’s priorities on regional integration, investment and private-sector participation.
The advisory board’s deliberations mark a shift from advocacy towards identifying investable opportunities and mobilising financing to turn the region’s economic potential into competitive industries and sustainable employment.
The November summit is expected to bring together regional and international investors to advance practical investment partnerships across West Africa.
