What does it really take to fund African innovation, not in theory, but in practice?

At the 2025 African Development Bank Annual Meetings in Abidjan, I had the honour of moderating a powerful side event hosted by the Vision 2030 Fund and the DRC Ministry of Industry.

Titled “Catalyzing African-Led Innovation: Financing the Next Generation of Startups & SMEs”, this session asked a critical question: What will it take to build investment systems that actually serve African entrepreneurs?

What made this conversation stand out was its honesty. We confronted the gap between capital announced and capital deployed. We talked about the feasibility studies, infrastructure, and early-stage support that are often treated as afterthoughts and why without them, many ventures never stand a fair chance.

The panel featured:

•H.E. Dagmawit Moges Bekele – African Union Peace Fund

•Minister Clément Moketo – Ministry of Industry, DRC

•Jerry Osagie – Afreximbank

•Hannah Ryder – Development Reimagined

•With a keynote from Mr. Bertin Chisekedi