Africa50 raises $50M for green infrastructure

Africa50, the infrastructure investment platform established by African governments and the African Development Bank, has secured $50 million in new commitments from two European development finance institutions for a fund designed to turn early-stage green infrastructure ideas into projects capable of attracting large-scale private capital.

Italy’s Cassa Depositi e Prestiti committed $40 million, while Proparco, the private sector financing arm of France’s Agence Française de Développement Group, pledged $10 million to the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa Project Development Fund, known as AGIA-PD. The commitments were announced Aug. 5 during Africa50’s Infra for Africa Forum in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The forum also featured keynote addresses by Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and African Development Bank Group President and Africa50 Chairman Dr. Sidi Ould Tah, who highlighted infrastructure investment as a catalyst for industrialization and economic resilience.

The AGIA-PD fund targets a problem that sits upstream of the more visible infrastructure financing gap. Before a power plant, port or transmission line can attract banks, pension funds or private equity, developers must first fund feasibility studies, engineering work, environmental assessments, permits and financial structuring. That early-stage capital is scarce, and its absence has kept many viable African infrastructure projects from ever reaching investors.

Africa50’s AGIA-PD fund provides exactly that early-stage risk capital, with the goal of developing bankable projects and handing them to private sector investors ready for debt and equity financing.

The fund reached its first close of $118 million in August 2025, with backing from the African Development Bank, Germany’s KfW Development Bank, the West African Development Bank, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Soros Economic Development Fund and the African Climate Foundation. The latest commitments from CDP and Proparco push momentum toward the fund’s $400 million target.

Africa50 Group Chief Executive Officer Alain Ebobissé said infrastructure development remained critical to connecting capital with investment opportunities capable of driving Africa’s economic transformation and supporting a more sustainable and resilient future.

AGIA-PD Executive Director Anas Charafi said the new commitments would strengthen efforts to mobilize funding for project preparation, which remains a major barrier to attracting private sector investment into African infrastructure.

The math behind the fund’s design is intentional. Africa50 estimates the $400 million in project development capital could generate up to $10 billion in bankable investment opportunities, implying roughly $25 in potential projects for every $1 of fund capital deployed. That $10 billion represents a pipeline target, not committed construction spending, and each project will still require financing and regulatory approvals before ground is broken.

CDP’s commitment is channeled through the Italian Climate Fund and supports Italy’s Mattei Plan for Africa, Rome’s broader industrial and development engagement strategy for the continent. Proparco said its investment is intended to increase the pipeline of green infrastructure projects and support Africa’s energy transition.

Africa50 now counts 38 shareholders, comprising 33 African countries, the African Development Bank, the Central Bank of West African States, Bank Al-Maghrib, the Public Investment Corporation and African Reinsurance Corporation.