Unlocking Africa’s $3.4 Trillion Market: Bimbola Ashiru Outlines Capital Realities at UNGA81 High-Level Summit
As global political and business leaders gathered for the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA81), the spotlight on Africa’s economic transformation shifted from theoretical frameworks to cold, hard capital deployment.
Speaking at the fourth edition of Africa Breakfast Convos (ABC 2026), held on Friday, September 25, 2026 at the World Trade Center in New York, financial veteran Otunba (Dr.) Bimbola Ashiru warned that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will only deliver on its promises if systemic institutional barriers are urgently dismantled.
The AfCFTA unites 54 nations and a combined market of 1.3 billion people, representing a cumulative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) exceeding $3.4 trillion.
World Bank estimates suggest that full implementation of the trade bloc could lift 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty and boost regional income by $450 billion by 2035. However, intra-African trade historically lags behind global benchmarks, accounting for approximately 15% of total continental exports compared to 68% in Europe and 59% in Asia.
Addressing delegates, Ashiru, whose career spans three decades across commercial banking, public administration, and private equity, emphasised that trade agreements alone cannot generate economic velocity without strategic capital alignment. “Policy creates the corridor, but private capital lays the tarmac,” said Ashiru, who serves as Chairman of Blackcod Asset Management Group and Director of Odu’a Investment Company Limited. “policy without patient, structured investment is merely intent. To move intra-African trade from 15% to our target of 25% over the next decade, we must address capital flight, harmonise sovereign risk profiles, and de-risk cross-border trade finance.”
Ashiru pointed out that Africa’s annual infrastructure deficit, estimated by the African Development Bank (AfDB) at $68 billion to $108 billion, remains a structural bottleneck to intra-continental commerce.
He called on asset managers and institutional funds to pioneer cross-border investment instruments capable of absorbing sovereign risk while capturing long-term yields. “We cannot continue to solicit international investment while native African institutional assets estimated at over $1 trillion in combined pension and sovereign funds remain under-allocated to local growth corridors,” Ashiru noted. “True economic sovereignty begins when African capital leads the investment thesis on African soil.”
The ABC 2026 summit reaffirmed the role of public-private dialogues in turning regional integration targets into bankable investment pipelines, with Ashiru’s dual heritage in policy reform and corporate leadership establishing a clear operational roadmap for regional growth.
At ABC 2026, Otunba (Dr.) Bimbola Ashiru spoke alongside Hackim Abdul Director of Citi’s Public Sector Group for Africa, and Yasamin Alttahir, Director of Global Marketing, Communications and External Affairs at The King’s Trust International.
The forum, hosted by BHM and Allison Worldwide, comes as Ghana posts a GH¢46.1 billion trade surplus and Kenya records 5.3 percent GDP growth in the first quarter of 2026.
