Equity Group Holdings Managing Director and CEO, Dr. James Mwangi has said the 2026 Africa Forward Summit focused on strengthening partnerships between African and European, particularly French companies to unlock the continent’s economic potential and improve livelihoods.
Speaking to the media during the Africa Forward Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Nairobi, Mwangi said the discussions centred on enhancing the capabilities of both African and European businesses to drive investment, innovation, and sustainable development across the continent.
“The focus has been on seeing the opportunity in Africa and enhancing the capabilities of both European and African companies, so that we can unlock Africa’s potential and turn it into development and improved wellbeing for the people,” he said.
Mwangi noted that France is increasingly broadening its engagement beyond Francophone countries to embrace partnerships with the entire African continent.
He observed that the Summit comes at a time when the global economic order and the role of multilateral institutions are being questioned, giving Africa an opportunity to collectively articulate its priorities and influence future global policy directions.
“The voice of Africa has now been brought to the table. We have seen Africa speaking collectively on global issues and on what it would like to see going forward,” he said.
Addressing concerns about historical injustices, Mwangi said African leaders and businesses are choosing to focus on present and future opportunities rather than past grievances.
“We have too many challenges today. If we divide our attention by constantly looking back at history, we will miss the opportunity to create jobs for our children and opportunities for millions of young Africans entering the labour market every year,” he said.
The CEO noted that nearly 15 million young Africans graduate annually, yet only about three million jobs are created each year, underscoring the urgency of accelerating economic growth and industrialisation.
“We’ll miss the opportunity of giving jobs to young African people who are finishing colleges at the rate of 15 million a year and only have 3 million jobs,” revealed Dr. Mwangi.
Mwangi emphasized that Africa’s youthful population represents one of the continent’s greatest assets, describing it as a digitally native generation capable of driving innovation, Artificial Intelligence and technological transformation.
“The average age in Africa is about 18 years. This is a generation born and raised in the digital era, and we must prepare our education systems to help them take advantage of technology and innovation,” he said.
He also called for greater focus on value addition and industrialisation, arguing that Africa must stop exporting raw materials and instead process products locally to create wealth and jobs.
“We should move from exporting raw commodities to value-added products. Instead of selling copper, Africa should produce copper wires and transformers. Agro-processing should become a low-hanging fruit for the continent,” he said.
Mwangi highlighted a recent partnership between Kenyan producers and a French company aimed at adding value to Kenyan tea exports.
He said the initiative transformed tea exports from a raw commodity into a branded premium product with geographical indication certification.
The Equity boss posed, “Can we focus on adding value to our tea, as opposed to exporting tea as a raw material?, let’s finish our tea.”
“Our first consignment fetched Sh3,000 per kilo, compared to the current Sh100 per kilo earned by farmers through raw tea exports,” he said.
Mwangi praised the Kenyan government for showcasing Kenyan tea during the state dinner attended by French President Emmanuel Macron.
“I was humbled to see the French President toasting with Murang’a tea as an alternative to French champagne. That is the direction Africa must take in increasing value addition,” he said.
He further stressed that unlocking Africa’s industrial and digital opportunities would require significant investment in infrastructure, including energy, transport, cloud computing, and data centers.
Mwangi, however, said that to be able to unlock those opportunities, governments need to have power, infrastructure and many other things like data centers that we really have to unlock and cloud computing.
“That is again where we are asking international companies to see that opportunity and come in and invest so that we build infrastructure,” he said.
Mwangi said governments must also prioritize digital infrastructure such as digital identification systems, interoperable payment systems, and data governance frameworks to support innovation among young entrepreneurs.
“Our young people should not be spending their time building digital infrastructure. They should focus on building applications and innovations on top of that infrastructure,” he said.
The CEO added that this broader vision of industrialisation, digital transformation and value addition formed a central focus of the Africa Forward Summit.
By Ian Chepkuto
