West Africa's private sector leaders and heads of state took a decisive step this week. Tony Elumelu, Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio presented in Lagos the investment programme of the West Africa Investment and Industrialisation Summit (WAIIS), to be held in Freetown from November 16 to 18, 2026. The ambition is clear: mobilise a pipeline of more than USD 180 billion to transform a region of 400 million people.
Four pillars for a common market of 400 million people
The investment pipeline is structured around four complementary axes. The first targets energy trade and industrial growth, the prerequisite to lifting the energy constraint that holds back regional competitiveness. The second focuses on strategic minerals and natural resource exploitation, against a backdrop of growing global demand for metals critical to the energy transition.
The third pillar targets agro-industry and food system transformation, with the aim of reducing dependence on imported food. The fourth, finally, targets digital transformation and connectivity, so that West Africa can catch up on internet infrastructure and mobile financial services.
Africapitalism as the driving force
Tony Elumelu, WAIIS co-chair and founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, puts Africapitalism back at the heart of the debate: it is African private capital, not just public aid, that must create jobs for the continent's youth. "Africa must build what Africans will use and what Africans will consume," Sanwo-Olu summarised.
Julius Maada Bio, host of the summit, emphasises the stakes of intra-regional reciprocity: an ECOWAS celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026 must finally become an operational common market, capable of generating "bankable" projects attracting both public and private capital.
A follow-up mechanism to avoid unkept promises
One of the WAIIS's innovations is the creation of a permanent secretariat to track commitments and advance projects between summits. Organisers want to avoid the pitfall of pan-African conferences where announcements pile up without execution. Development finance institutions, institutional investors and project promoters will gather in Freetown to identify de-risking mechanisms adapted to local realities.
Why it matters
For the Indian Ocean, West Africa's dynamism is not a geographic abstraction. Mauritius, Africa's main financial hub, is already positioned to structure some of the investment flows linked to WAIIS. Madagascar and the Comoros could benefit from a revitalised ECOWAS that strengthens continental trade corridors. A USD 180 billion pipeline delivered would not only transform the West — it would reposition the entire continent.