Thursday 15 January, 2026
Just returned from the Informa Africa Energy Expo in Kigali, where a fundamental question dominated discussions: How do we transform Africa’s energy challenge into an economic opportunity?
Energy as Economic Catalyst
Energy represents our continent’s greatest opportunity to address unemployment and underemployment while bridging the energy divide. Reliable energy powers businesses, manufacturing creates jobs, and local capacity building retains wealth within African economies.
Business Model Innovation First
Africa must focus on viable business models to connect cities, industrial zones, peri-urban areas, and rural communities. This focus is itself innovation—and more urgent than manufacturing every component from scratch.
Let’s be realistic: we lack the critical mass and economies of scale for solar panel manufacturing. However, **battery assembly and component manufacturing** have succeeded across the continent. This is our immediate opportunity.
Building the Energy Hardware Ecosystem
Africa has proven manufacturing capability in automotive (South Africa, Morocco, Egypt) and electronics. We’re already producing solar mounting structures, assembling batteries, and manufacturing balance-of-system components.
The path forward: Regional manufacturing hubs serving continental markets through AfCFTA can create the scale needed for competitive pricing. A pan-African approach beats purely national strategies.
Industrial Off-Takers Drive Innovation
Mining operations, manufacturing facilities, and agricultural processors provide anchor demand through long-term purchase agreements and volume commitments. Their local content requirements create immediate market pull while their captive power needs offer testing grounds for locally manufactured equipment.
“Made in Africa” = Energy Security
Local manufacturing delivers faster deployment, easier maintenance, protection from currency fluctuations, and freedom from global supply bottlenecks. It means jobs stay home and strategic autonomy over our energy transitions.
The Opportunity
Africa’s energy future depends on strategic choices we make today. We must balance ambition with pragmatism—building on existing strengths while developing viable business models across our diverse landscape.
The opportunity is clear. The capability exists. Now we need the investment, policy support, and regional collaboration to seize it.
What viable business models have you seen working on the ground?
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