By Benard Mono
In the span of a single fortnight in May, East Africa became the unlikely centre of gravity for global development finance. Three major convenings, held within days of each other, drew a convergence of political leadership, private capital, and multilateral expertise into the region.
The Africa Forward Summit, which took place in Nairobi on 11 – 12 May, was the first of these events. It represented the first time this major France-Africa platform was hosted and co-chaired by an anglophone African country, bringing together more than 30 heads of state alongside over 1,500 business leaders and investors.
France pledged $27 billion in investment commitments across energy, agriculture, artificial intelligence and the blue economy. With exception of artificial intelligence, these are sectors where East Africa holds genuine competitive advantages.
Kigali then hosted the 13th Africa CEO Forum, themed around scale and shared ownership. Nearly 2,800 leaders from 77 countries gathered, and close to $2 billion in agreements and memoranda of understanding were signed on the sidelines.
Days later still in Kigali, the Nuclear Energy Innovation Summit for Africa (NEISA 2026) took place and brought together heads of state, policymakers, regulators, financiers, and international organizations to advance nuclear energy development across the continent. The event held under the theme “Powering Africa’s Future: Turning Nuclear Energy Ambition into Investable Reality,” focused on moving nuclear energy from policy discussions into bankable, scalable projects through improved financing, regulation, and regional coordination.
Taken together, these events signal an important shift in how global capital allocators are beginning to read this region.
But changed perception, however welcome, does not on its own sustain investment flows. What determines whether capital stays, compounds, and generates broad-based prosperity is the depth of the region’s economic integration. In this regard, the actual infrastructure, policy architecture, and financing mechanisms that allow goods, services, and capital to move across borders with predictability and low friction remain the defining test.
This is where East Africa’s opportunity remains partially unrealised. The EAC Quarterly Statistics Bulletin for Q4 2025 shows total trade within the bloc rose 25.4 percent, from $124.9 billion to $156.6 billion. Intra-EAC trade expanded to $19.3 billion, yet that figure represents only 12.3 percent of total trade. The IMF projects EAC growth at 5.6 percent in 2026, well above the continental average of 4.3 percent. The region is growing but it is not yet trading sufficiently with itself.
Closing that gap requires progress on two interlocking priorities, namely, physical connectivity and harmonised trade facilitation. On infrastructure, progress has been made but the pipeline of bankable cross-border projects needs both more capital and better coordination.
The East African Development Bank (EADB) has been part of some of the region’s most consequential infrastructure investments. The bank joined the lending syndicate for Kenya’s $680 million Lake Turkana Wind Power Project. This site added 310 megawatts to the grid and is now Africa’s largest wind farm.
In Tanzania, EADB co-funded Lots 3 and 4 of the Standard Gauge Railway with the corridor now moving over a million passengers annually. In Rwanda, the bank’s financing enabled Cimerwa, the country’s only integrated cement producer, to expand output to 600,000 tonnes yearly. This increased capacity feeds building supply chains across the entire region.
In Uganda, one of the leading producers of sugar, Kakira Sugar recorded a 17 percent increase in sugar output after receiving financing from the Bank. While East Africa Medical Vitals, the first manufacturer of medical-grade surgical and examination gloves in East Africa, was able to increase its production capacity from 36 million pairs of gloves per year to 95 million pairs per year.
These projects all share a cross-border economic impact. Energy generated in one country powers manufacturing in another whereas a railway line connects landlocked economies to ports and global supply chains. While medical equipment produced in one country contributes to the transformation of healthcare in another. This is what regional integration looks like in practice. However, physical networks are only half the battle.
Non-tariff barriers, divergent regulatory frameworks, and inconsistent customs procedures continue to impose real costs on firms trying to operate regionally. The EAC’s ambition to raise intra-regional trade to 40 percent by 2030 will require genuine policy convergence in standards, customs, and digital trade infrastructure.
SME financing is another area demanding focus. Small and medium-sized enterprises account for most of the employment across East Africa yet remain significantly underserved by commercial capital. In 2025, EADB’s SME programme disbursed more than $50 million through partner institutions across the region, supported over 2,000 MSME’s and created over 10,000 jobs. A recently announced $13 million dedicated fund for youth and women-led enterprises, alongside a new MoU with UN Rwanda aimed at supporting SME’s, deepens the Bank’s commitment to support this sector.
Sustaining the summits momentum will depend on several key interventions. East African governments must first deal with global financial networks as a single unit rather than standalone competitors. A combined approach leverages a regional GDP of almost $350 billion.
Nuclear energy projects require very high initial investment but provide the most reliable source of energy at a lower unit cost. Working together as a region to leverage the numbers is therefore the way to go. Additionally, cross-border infrastructure requires a new perspective. It must be managed as a regional public good designed to draw in blended finance from private funds and development organizations. In the same vein, trade facilitation improvements must match the reality of everyday business operations. Investors demand a low-cost, reliable environment for moving merchandise across frontiers. When administrative roadblocks drag on, investment capital moves to other markets.
East Africa has transitioned from a region of promise to one of proven potential. The real test now lies in converting the diplomatic momentum of recent weeks into lasting institutional strength – the kind that turns high-level commitments into sustained investment, broader trade, and inclusive prosperity.
The writer is the Acting Director General of The East African Development Bank