Africa Impact Summit 2025 Catalyses Game-Changing Initiatives to Scale Impact acrossthe Continent

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Accra, Ghana June 2025. Leaders from across Africa’s impact investing ecosystem gathered on June 11-13,  2025  at  the  Kempinski  Hotel  in  Accra,  Ghana  for  the  Africa  Impact  Summit,  a  platform that convened over five hundred (500) policy makers, entrepreneurs, investors, and development partners for collaboration, networking, and impact investing action to explore scalable strategies for accelerating sustainable economic growth across the continent under the theme, “Transforming Systems: Redefining Impact for Real Change in Africa.” 

Hosted  by  the  Africa  Impact  Investing  Group  (AIIG),  Impact  Investing Ghana (IIGh), Impact Investors Foundation(IIF), Impact Investing South Africa (IISA), Impact Investing Kenya (IIK), NABII Zambia and GSG Impact, major milestones of this year’s summit included the launch of the Africa Pensions Collaborative and the Africa Fund of Funds Initiative. The Summit also featured a Study Tour of Nigeria, the Africa Impact Policy Dialogue, which brought together policymakers from across the continent, and a Catalytic Capital  breakfast  for  foundations,  international  development  agencies  and  other  catalytic  capital providers, among other groundbreaking actions to drive inclusive, scalable, and sustainable investment across the continent.

Speaking  at  the  opening  ceremony,  Alex  Asiedu,  Board  Chair  of  IIGh  said  “This  year’s  theme, Transforming Systems, Redefining Impact for Real Change in Africa, is both timely and also provocative. It calls us to move beyond pilot projects and isolated ones. We’ve been doing that for a long time. We must align capital with our context. We must build trust across our sectors. And we must measure success not merely by financial returns, but by lives that are transformed.”

On her part, Ibukun Awosika, Vice Chair of GSG Impact and Chair of the GSG Nigeria Partner added that: “The reality is, where the world is right now, we need to get our act together and make sure things work for us. And we need to make it work in a way that is catalytic, that turns things around on an exponential level.  This  conference  has  to  be  additional.  It  cannot  be  one  more  conversation.  It  has  to  be  a conversation that causes real change, one that offers takeaways that we can act on and implement.”

Africa Fund-of-Funds initiative to streamline impact reporting  in Africa

The  Africa  Fund-of-Funds  Initiative  (AFFI),  led  by  the  AIIG  in  partnership  with  GSG  Impact,  brings together Fund-of-Funds, Wholesale Funds, and major capital platforms like the Ci-Gaba Fund of Funds, Venture Capital Trust Fund, Nigeria Wholesale Impact Investment Fund, Zambia Small Business Growth Initiative  and  others  to  harmonise their impact measurement and management (MM) practices. The initiative will reduce the impact reporting burden on their investee funds and foster shared learning and collaboration with other stakeholders.  The initiative directly addresses long-standing inefficiencies that hinder capital and enterprise growth, especially in co-investment scenarios, by championing simplified, standardised reporting and a collaborative approach to data and decision making.

Africa Pensions Industry Collaborative to document learning from unlocking local pension funding

The Africa Pensions Industry Collaborative is a collaborative project of the Africa Impact Investing Group (AIIG) aimed at documenting and accelerating the efforts of African nations to harness their burgeoning local  pension  funds  and  fuel  the  growth  of  Small  and  Medium  Enterprises  (SMEs),  thereby  driving economic transformation across the continent. During the launch of this initiative, Amma Lartey, CEO of Impact Investing Ghana (IIGh), shared the need to learn from Africa’s emerging success stories around unlocking local pension capital for impact investing. She explained that the initiative would share initial case studies from Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia, contributing knowledge to support countries at the early stages of the journey of unlocking local pension funding and chronicle the evolution of private pension schemes, regulatory changes, and policy actions that enable transformation in pension fund investment behaviour. “It is about sharing knowledge and ensuring that it is able to impact other countries”, she said.

Etemore  Glover,  CEO  of  Impact  Investors  Foundation  (IIF),  in  introducing  the  Africa  Fund  of  Funds Initiative, said, “The growing emergence of fund-of-funds vehicles across Africa is a strategic mechanism for mobilising local capital at scale. We want to align our impact measurement and management systems so that impact is not a reporting burden or an afterthought, but an operational driver that helps funds make better decisions and do better.” She highlighted vehicles such as the Ci-Gaba Fund of Funds and Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF) of Ghana, $1 billion Nigerian Wholesale Impact Investment Fund  and the Small Business Growth Initiative of Zambia as the key drivers of this initiative. The initiative called on other African wholesale impact funds and Fund of Funds to join and co-develop a harmonised reporting and impact evaluation standard.

Study Tour to Nigeria

The Africa Impact Summit 2025 kicked off with a Study Tour to Lagos from 8th to 10th June. The tour, the first  of  its  kind  since  the  inception  of  the  Summit,  provided  a  unique  opportunity  to welcome and introduce  the  CEO  of  GSG  Impact,  Elizabeth  Boggs  Davidsen,  and  other  participants  to  the  impact investment  community  in  Nigeria.  During  the two-day event, delegates gained firsthand insights into Nigeria’s  dynamic  investment landscape, connected with innovative enterprises and impact investors, engaged with industry thought leaders on investment policies and participated in ministerial advocacy visits to advance discussions on catalysing economic growth through impact investments.

The Africa Impact Policy Roundtable and Catalytic Capital Breakfast

Participants also convened in a high-level policy session dubbed “The Africa Impact Policy Roundtable” which brought together government officials, regional institutions, pension funds, development finance institutions  (DFI’s),  and  investment  platforms to explore actionable policy interventions for unlocking domestic  institutional  capital  into  Africa’s  impact economy.” The Summit also convened foundations, international development agencies and other catalytic capital providers in an intimate Catalytic Capital Breakfast to explore how to mobilise billions to drive innovation and impact across Africa. The sessions closed with a shared commitment to foster cross-sector partnerships, improve data for decision making, and accelerate the flow of catalytic capital toward Africa-driven development solutions.  

The  summit  featured  engaging  discussions,  panels,  networking  sessions,  and  an  action  wall  where participants  could  make  an  action  pledge. Topics covered included impact investing to drive systems change, regional collaboration in building robust impact ecosystems, the role of blended finance across the investment continuum, and how emerging technologies such as Fintech and AI are reshaping Africa’s development  landscape.  The  Summit  also  marked  the  launch  of  the  fourth  edition  of  the  Africa Investment  Insights  Report  by  the  United  Nations  Development  Programme  (UNDP).  This comprehensive, data-rich report tracks policy innovations and investment trends across more than 20 African countries, offering practical intelligence to create a more investment-ready climate. 

The  summit  concluded  with  the  prestigious  Africa  Impact  Investing Awards presented by Krutham, during  a  Gala  Night  to  celebrate  the  richness  of  African  culture  and  excellence  sponsored  by  First National Bank.

Zambia to host Africa Impact Summit 2026

Zambia was announced as the next host of the fourth edition of Africa Impact Summit in June, 2026 at a vibrant closing ceremony. The Africa Impact Summit 2025 was made possible through the support of partners,  including  the  AIIG,  Ford  Foundation,  UNDP,  GSG  Impact,  Skoll  Foundation, UNCDF/Convergence, RISA fund of UK International Development, VCTF, and many more committed to reshaping the future of investment in Africa. 

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About the Africa Impact Investing Group  

The  Africa  Impact  Investing Group (AIIG) is a dynamic network working with policymakers, investors, entrepreneurs, and civil society to channel capital towards impactful initiatives that also deliver financial returns. AIIG comprises the African National Advisory Boards for impact investing in Kenya, South Africa, Ghana,  Nigeria  and  Zambia;  supported  by  affiliated  African  Task  Forces  in Burkina  Faso,  Senegal, Namibia, Tanzania, Mauritius & Seychelles to build a stronger ecosystem for Impact Investing across the continent. Read more here https://africaimpactinvest.org/  

About Impact Investing Ghana

Impact Investing Ghana (IIGh) is an organisation focused on promoting sustainable development and growing the impact investment ecosystem in Ghana. As a member of the Africa Impact Investing Group, IIGh aims to catalyse US$1 billion in impact funds for Ghana and Africa. Through research, it identifies opportunities and gaps hindering capital flow and business growth and unites the ecosystem to address them. Notable initiatives include the Deal Source Africa platform, the Ci-Gaba Fund of Funds to unlock pension funding, and the ESO Collaborative to enhance business quality. Read more here: https://impactinvestinggh.org/

About Impact Investors Foundation

The Impact Investors Foundation (IIF) is a leading organisation dedicated to advancing impact investing in Nigeria  by  facilitating  knowledge  sharing,  policy  advocacy,  and  information  flow  to  encourage  the development of impact investing. Its vision is to unlock domestic and international capital, seeking to make impactful investments that benefit people across diverse sectors and geographies in Nigeria. IIF has  significantly  advanced Nigerian impact investing through convenings, deal matchmaking, capacity building,  and  research.  Its  public-private  partnerships  have  garnered  government  support,  notably positioning the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning as the Champion Ministry; and leading to the $1 billion Nigerian Wholesale Impact Investment Fund. The GSG Nigerian Partner tackles industry challenges  across  capital  supply  and  demand,  policy,  and  intermediation.  The  organisation  is  in  the process of establishing a $1 billion Nigerian Wholesale Impact Investment Fund (WIIF), with government backing, to address MSME financing gaps.

To explore these partnership opportunities, please contact: info@impactinvestingh.org  Josephine.brown@impactinvestinggh.org  iogunfuwa@impactinvestorsfoundation.org