World
Ethiopia, Egypt and South Africa: Pursuing Relationships Within and Beyond BRICS
By Professor Maurice Okoli
Introduction
Ultimately, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) has established itself as an informal association pursuing comprehensive and multi-dimensional cooperation. It has also, in the course of its operations, created a platform for discussing important topics relating to economic growth, developing trade and economic exchanges, ensuring security as well as promoting education and culture. According to several previous summit reports, the economic power is shifting from the West to the Global South. One of the landmarked achievements was the ascension of three African countries: Ethiopia and Egypt (Jan. 2024) and South Africa (2010). Russia is chairing the association this year. The main event of 2024 for BRICS will be the summit, which will be held in Kazan in October.
Under Russia’s chairmanship, integrating more new members into BRICS has been suspended, although the ‘strategic expansion’ was considered an explicit testament to the association’s remarkable growing attraction and its commitment to reshaping the global economic landscape.
While the geopolitics intensifies, BRICS has prioritized the economic dimension of its operations, desirous to design the necessary instruments for substituting those of multinational organizations such International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Closely related to this are the loans for investment projects and the financial payment systems. The analysis here, thus focuses on the economic architecture of Ethiopia, Egypt and South Africa – African members of BRICS.
BRICS Bank
Regarding the broader historical significance of this association, the founding members consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, and China held the first summit in Yekaterinburg in 2009, with South Africa joining it a year later, discussed creating the BRICS bank as a geopolitical ‘alternative’ to IMF and the World Bank. The summit documents contained explanatory reasons as ‘operating financial activities mainly based on non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit’ among members and other developing countries. They planned to set up this New Development Bank by 2014 but was later established in 2015.
The financial architecture of BRICS is made of the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA). These components were signed into a treaty in 2014 and became active in 2015. (See its report April 2024). New Development Bank, sometimes referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, by definition is ‘a multilateral development bank’ operated by the five BRICS states. In 2021, Bangladesh, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay joined the NDB. The bank’s primary focus of lending is infrastructure projects with authorized lending of up to $34 billion annually. As of 2023, it had 53 projects worth around $15 billion. Its plan on giving out $15 billion to member states to help their struggling economies never materialized.
Financial Commitments
The core question was the initial financial shareholding. In July 2014, during the sixth BRICS summit in Fortaleza, the BRICS signed the document to create $100 billion as the startup capital and the currency pool for the bank. China committed $41 billion towards the pool; Brazil, India, and Russia $18 billion each; and South Africa $5 billion. China, which held the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves and contributed the bulk of the currency pool, wanted a more significant managing role. China also wanted to be the location of the reserve, thus making the bank to be headquartered in Shanghai, China. Until 2024, it has a skeleton office in Moscow, Russia, and Johannesburg, South Africa, as compared to many representative offices and normal-size staff of IMF and World Bank across Africa.
BRICS payment system
At the 2015 BRICS summit in Russia, ministers from the BRICS states initiated consultations for a payment system that would be an alternative to the SWIFT system. The stated goal was to initially move to settlements in national currencies. The Central Bank of Russia highlighted the main benefits as backup and redundancy in case there were disruptions to the SWIFT system. China also launched its alternative to SWIFT: the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, which enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions. India also has its alternative Structured Financial Messaging System (SFMS), as do Russia SPFS and Brazil Pix, (according to the BRICS report July 2024).
Ethiopia, Egypt and South Africa’s Demography
Ethiopia: With Ethiopia and Egypt taking full membership with effect on 1 January 2024, joining South Africa illustrated BRICS expansion from the Maghreb through East Africa down to Southern Africa. South Africa and Egypt are the economic powerhouses, while Ethiopia ranks 8th position in the continent. Angola and Nigeria rank above Ethiopia. With about 126.5 million people (2023), Ethiopia is the second most populous nation in Africa after Nigeria (June 2024 stands at 229.6), and one of the fastest-growing economies in the region. Ethiopia aims to reach lower-middle-income status by 2025. Ethiopia holds the headquarters of the AU.
Egypt: Located in the topmost north Africa along the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt considers itself as part of the Arab world. The permanent headquarters of the Arab League are located in Cairo and the body’s secretary general has traditionally been an Egyptian. At approximately 100 million inhabitants, Egypt is the 14th-most populated country in the world, and the third-most populated in Africa. Egypt’s economy depends mainly on agriculture, petroleum exports, natural gas, and tourism. There are also more than three million Egyptians working abroad, mainly in Libya, Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf and Europe. Egypt is a member of the Association of Arab States and the African Union (AU).
South Africa: South Africa is the southernmost country on the African continent. Its remoteness—it lies thousands of miles distant from major African cities such as Lagos and Cairo and more than 6,000 miles (10,000 km) away from most of Europe, North America, and eastern Asia, where its major trading partners are located. According to the 2023 census, the population of South Africa was about 62 million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions. South Africa has a mixed economy, emerging market, and upper-middle-income economy, one of only eight such countries in Africa. the country has a comparative advantage in the production of agriculture, mining and manufacturing products relating to these sectors. Several reports indicate that, in principle, its principal international trading partners—besides other African countries—include Germany, the United States, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh and Spain. Over the last few decades, South Africa has also established itself as a popular tourist destination. Further, it is among the G20, and is the only African country that is a permanent member of the G20 group, and as a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU).
Development Challenges
- Ethiopia’s relations with neighbours are very complicated, and also it suffers from natural disasters. Russia tended to make a greater impact when it offered sympathy and support with humanitarian aid of grains to the affected and impoverished communities in Ethiopia. In November and December 2023, Russia delivered these grains, as humanitarian aid, to Ethiopia alongside Zimbabwe, Kenya, Burkina Faso and Mali. More are still vulnerable to natural and conflict disasters at the present stage.
According to the World Bank report (2023), Ethiopia seeks to chart a development path that is sustainable and inclusive to accelerate poverty reduction and boost shared prosperity. Achieving these objectives will require addressing key challenges including the following:
(i) addressing macroeconomic private sector development, structural transformation, and generation of jobs,
(ii) reducing the incidence of conflict that has been having a substantial impact on lives, livelihoods, and infrastructure. Overcoming the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
(iii) addressing food insecurity, which is growing due to adverse weather events, locust invasion, conflict, and global conditions leading to high inflation of food prices.
(iv) improving human capital which is far lower than the average for the Sub-Saharan Africa region.
(v) generating good jobs. The country’s growing workforce (with roughly 2 million persons reaching working age per year) puts pressure on the absorption capacity of the labour market and necessitates improving current jobs while creating sufficient new jobs.
- Despite its profound geopolitical and multifaceted relations with key external powers, its membership in G20 and BRICS, South Africa’s greatest challenge is huge energy deficits. After years of sub-standard maintenance and the South African government’s inability to manage strategic resources, the state-owned power supplier Eskom has been experiencing a deficiency in capacity to supply sufficient power nationwide. Industrial production is, to a large extent, negatively affected by these energy setbacks.
- In the case of Egypt as a member of BRICS, it has external players such as the United States, China, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Since taking over political power, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has been strengthening the military and limiting the political opposition. Under El-Sisi, Egypt, the Egyptian economy entered an ongoing crisis, the Egyptian pound was one of the worst-performing currencies, and inflation reached nearly 40% in March 2024. It has received United States foreign aid over the past few years (an average of $2.2 billion per year) and is the third-largest recipient of such funds from the United States.
In its annual report (2024), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has rated Egypt as one of the top countries in Africa undertaking economic reforms. But a lot more economic lapses have still engulfed the economy, and a greater part of the population lives below the average subsistence level. An estimated 2.7 million Egyptians abroad contribute actively to the development of their country through remittances ($7.8 billion in 2021), as well as circulation of human and social capital and investment. Remittances, money earned by Egyptians living abroad and sent home, reached a record $21 billion in 2023, according to the World Bank.
Brazilian Dilma Rousseff and BRICS Bank
During the latest meeting held on June 6, 2024, President Vladimir Putin and President of the BRICS New Development Bank, Dilma Rousseff, agreed on some important issues. These include the fact that the bank becomes more sustainable and operational and operates within developing multipolar economic architecture and strengthening its economic base. In 2024, Russia presides over BRICS, Russia and Brazil are co-founders of this bank, now headed by Dilma Rousseff. In the new emerging multipolar world, BRICS members and other developing countries, especially those in the Global South have consistently criticized the IMF and the World Bank and further called for reforms. Nevertheless, Putin and Rousseff have taken the common position that the BRICS bank has an essential role to play in the multipolar economy. Of course, the multipolar world is also reflected in national currencies, which is another obligation of the bank: to attract and carry out settlements in national currencies. This is very important for developing countries that do not have strong currencies and suffer greatly from exchange rate volatility. (See Kremlin report – June 6, 2024).
Obviously, the BRICS bank claims to be working independently without any political strings. In the current conditions, it is not easy to do so, given the developments in global finance and the use of the dollar as a political weapon. Now the world is indeed going through many challenges. There are crisis trends and inflation in advanced countries, and in the developing world, nations are facing debt problems. Of course, the countries in the developing world are now primarily in serious condition. According to Rousseff remarks: “The bank should play a major role in the development of a multipolar, polycentric world. Russia is a very important partner in BRICS and the New Development Bank and is fulfilling all of its commitments. And, indeed, the bank is facing many problems, primarily concerning liquidity.” (See Kremlin report – July 26, 2023).
The Kremlin website quoted Putin as follows: “Our development strategy for the 2022–2026 period aims to draw about 30 per cent of our funds from domestic markets. It is also very important to attract funds in different currencies, not just dollars or euros. We are well aware of the difficulties encountered by the developing nations in their bid to attract investment. They need resources to finance infrastructure projects, develop digital and social logistics, and, of course, reach their goals in environmental protection. Everyone is focused on their debt, ignoring their need for resources. It seems unacceptable to impose certain terms and requirements on them in exchange for funding like multilateral international organisations are doing now.” (See Kremlin report – July 26, 2023).
On November 14, 2019, Putin and other BRICS leaders met with members of the BRICS Business Council and the management of the New Development Bank. Approval was given for internal procedures to launch a technical support foundation aimed at helping entrepreneurs draft high-quality design documents when applying for a bank loan. That year (2019) saw an increase in the number of regional branches of the bank. The African Regional Centre in Johannesburg. A bank branch in Latin America was launched in Brazil. And the necessary procedures for the opening of the bank’s Moscow office in the first half of 2020.
It was acknowledged that the bank, as a key international financial institution, is efficient in investment and lending, and expanded its investment project portfolio which rose, and exceeded $12 billion, with seven of 44 approved projects being implemented in Russia. The bank also supported the ‘Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership’ until 2025, which was adopted at its summit in Russia in 2015. (See BRICS report – November 2019).
BRICS Bank and other Multinationals (IMF and World Bank)
The basic question currently asked is what place does BRICS bank holds in the global economy, and how comparable to other multinational financial institutions. Overcoming the impact of the global crisis, the BRICS bank has to follow the same path of comprehensive renovation. It has made its key tasks including investing in the economy through concessional loans, to achieve alleviating poverty and hardships to sustainable economic growth. The bank’s documents show interest in engaging in traditional sectors such as alternative energy, information, telecommunications and new medical technologies, processing of mineral resources and working towards agricultural production growth. Many of such advantageous sectors have attracted some forms of loans from the BRICS bank since its establishment and have also recorded some successes and achievements.
For this article, traditional comparisons are necessary to deepen the understanding of the theme under discussion and analysis. Historically the IMF and the World Bank, in their functional pursuits, have been extremely active with their targeted operations in various geographical regions. Despite the current criticisms and demands for reforms and a review of their approach, the IMF and the World Bank have introduced a new system of global economic governance in their operations. Thanks to a common approach which is noticeable until today the IMF and the World Bank are consistently in favour of financing operations in emerging and developing economies. At the Pittsburgh G-20 summit held in 2009, both financial institutions pledged forms of support for economic growth in developing countries. (See IMF and World Report, June 2009)
Ethiopia, Egypt and South Africa (BRICS members) constitute part of developing countries and distinctively are located in Africa. Today these three countries are reputable members of the BRICS informal association, but at the same time entangled in the financial network of the IMF and the World Bank. An official summarized report indicated that the IMF, in June 2023, concluded the Article IV consultation with South Africa. South Africa’s economy is facing mounting economic and social challenges. The pathway out to contain the economic shortfall and, as it was an election period, was to swiftly address economic complexity as the last resort was to approach the World and IMF for another packet of loans. Before that, a $4.3 billion loan, at about 1.1% interest, was granted to South Africa to manage the immediate consequences of the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic which broke out in 2019. The practical benefit is that the IMF loan played a supportive role in stabilizing South Africa’s situation. South Africa is still facing multiple economic bottlenecks, a deteriorating situation, and worse, it will struggle to pay back its debts to foreign financial institutions. South Africa’s external debt reached over $170 billion in 2021, which is the highest stock of foreign debt in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Egypt’s current situation is not different from South Africa and Ethiopia. The North African country has been addressing its economic development capitalizing on the contradictions in the global system. In 2021, Egypt’s total external debt reached around $143 billion. The latest development, in July 2024, the IMF and Egypt reached a preliminary agreement that should help unlock the next disbursement of a $8 billion loan.
As part of Ethiopia’s macroeconomic reform program endorsement, the latest IMF update released in August 2024, foreign creditors have granted financing assurances to Ethiopia enabling the government to fast-track approval of new loans by the IMF and the World Bank. An official creditor committee offered firm assurances to restructure loans and outstanding debts. Reports explicitly show that Italy, Japan, India, and Saudi Arabia are among the other members of the committee. Ethiopia aims to restructure billions of dollars in external debt using the Group of 20’s Common Framework mechanism, which seeks to coordinate talks between official, commercial and private creditors. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told parliament in July 2024 that expected talks with the Washington-based IMF and World Bank could unlock more than $10 billion in financing in the coming years.
Further analysing several reports, Egypt and South Africa, being BRICS members in addition to Ethiopia, have contracted loans for developing their economies. The most difficult tasks include their demands for financial reforms, restructuring existing debts and at the same time contracting new loans from these Western multinational financial institutions. These are the realistic scenarios with Ethiopia, Egypt and South Africa, primarily due to the incapacity and tardiness of the New Development Bank established by BRICS. With its particular bilateral interest, aspirations and perspectives, China’s Export-Import Bank, as one of the policy instruments, over the past two decades, has supported several development initiatives across Africa. At least, China has illustrated its financial strength, ensuring and reshaping Africa’s economic future. Imperatively, China’s position is that developing the economy and engaging in economic sectors as an important aspect of improving the lives of the impoverished, is partly the surest way to ensure peace and order in Africa.
Notwithstanding all the distinctive points discussed above, the BRICS bank considers Ethiopia, Egypt, South Africa, and other partners with their support for a multipolar world, beginning to create a solid foundation for dialogue, to actively cooperate and collaborate in the economic sphere. The bank operators, however, declared confidence that cooperation, as frequently put “reliable and mutually beneficial partnership relations” would benefit the developing countries and their peoples, – and among BRICS members has a great future. Against this backdrop, the BRICS New Development Bank has to re-prioritize its high-impact operations that are connected to the development objectives of its members and consistent commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, it has to facilitate a deeper understanding and forge partnerships focusing on mobilising resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in its member countries, and to strengthen South-South cooperation.
Some experts further say BRICS ‘strategic expansion’ will raise significantly its status and could amplify the association’s declared ambitions to become a champion of the Global South. According to historical records, the first meeting of the association began in St. Petersburg in 2005. It was called RIC, which stood for Russia, India and China. Then, the BRIC group was formed by four of the world’s fastest-growing economies – Brazil, Russia, India, and China. In December 2010, South Africa joined the BRIC association, now referred to as BRICS, ‘an informal association’ of five countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
*Professor Maurice Okoli is a fellow at the Institute for African Studies and the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences. He is also a fellow at the North-Eastern Federal University of Russia. He is an expert at the Roscongress Foundation and the Valdai Discussion Club. As an academic researcher and economist with a keen interest in current geopolitical changes and the emerging world order, Maurice Okoli frequently contributes articles for publication in reputable media portals on different aspects of the interconnection between developing and developed countries, particularly in Asia, Africa and Europe. With comments and suggestions, he can be reached via email: ma***********@***il.com.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
One year after launching a continental initiative designed to make excellence in public governance the foundation of a new drive to transform Africa, LEAD, the Africa CEO Forum’s pan-African leadership programme, takes stock of its first cohort and announces the launch of its second class. Built around a community of senior public decision-makers committed to modernising the state and to the continent’s digital transformation, this new cohort gathers for three days, from 28 to 30 August 2026, on the campus of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Rabat, Morocco.
A second cohort that confirms the programme’s durability
For its second class, LEAD brings together 50 fellows, senior public decision-makers engaged in the design and implementation of the continent’s economic and social policies. Over three days, participants take part in collective and collaborative working sessions, peer exchanges and meetings with figures from the public, business and academic spheres, in order to compare their practices and build shared responses to the major challenges of governance.
Speakers include Mehdi Jomaa, former Head of Government of Tunisia, Donald Kaberuka, Managing Partner & Founder, SouthBridge Group, and former President of the African Development Bank, Serge Ekue, President of the West African Development Bank (BOAD), Sanjay Jain, co-creator of India Stack and Director of Digital Public Infrastructure, Gates Foundation, and Mauricio Cardenas, Professor of Professional Practice in Global Leadership, Columbia SIPA, and former Finance Minister of Colombia (2012-2018).
They share their reform experience, their public policy trade-offs and their view of continental priorities. Throughout the programme, the cohort benefits from the dedicated support of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Asafo & Co, BOAD, BCG and the African Development Bank, LEAD partners that have chosen to invest in the transformation of African public action.
LEAD, a pan-African community serving public action
Created by the AFRICA CEO FORUM, LEAD is a leadership programme whose ambition is to reposition Africa’s administrative elite as a driver of reform, of performance and of dialogue with all the continent’s stakeholders.
Designed for senior African public decision-makers, LEAD sets out to build a lasting community of public officials able to share their experience, compare their practices and build common solutions to the major economic, technological and institutional transformations under way in Africa. That community is structured around three pillars: modernizing the state, improving public services, and strengthening cooperation between governments, development institutions and private-sector players.
From fellows to alumni: a long-term initiative
Made up of 36 fellows drawn from a range of administrations and institutions and representing 24 countries across the continent, LEAD’s first cohort demonstrated the quality and the potential of this community from its very first year. In less than twelve months, six of its members have taken a significant step forward: two have been appointed ministers, two have moved into strategic positions at the highest level of the state and two have been promoted to chief executive roles. These moves, which account for 16.7% of the first class, show the role LEAD plays as an accelerator of impact within African administrations.
By bringing together a new cohort of fellows every year, each of them joining the LEAD alumni community, the initiative follows a long-term trajectory: in time, to unite several hundred African public decision-makers around a shared culture of transparency, performance and regional cooperation.
A first year devoted to public service and digital public infrastructure
Throughout the year, the fellows devoted their work to strengthening African public action, to make excellence in public governance a central lever of transformation. An awareness campaign, run as part of Africa Public Service Day, brought to light those who, within the continent’s administrations and institutions, are concretely transforming public policy and improving the services offered to citizens.
Members of the cohort also took part in a special round table held in Kigali during the ACF 2026, in order to carry their thinking to a wider community of public and private leaders. That forum reinforced LEAD’s role as a platform for dialogue between the administrative elite and the continent’s economic players. Digital public infrastructure (DPI) formed the main thread of this first year of work.
Discussions covered issues at the heart of the digital sovereignty of African states: digital identity, payments, secure data exchange, interoperability, governance and the protection of citizens. This work examined the conditions under which African states are developing, in some cases, and can develop, in others, shared, open infrastructure robust enough to improve the quality of public services while supporting local innovation and preserving the capacity of public authorities to set the rules of the game.
A white paper to move from consuming technology to creating value
This year of work concludes with the publication, in collaboration with BCG, LEAD’s Knowledge Partner, of a white paper on Africa’s place in the digital economy and in artificial intelligence. With the digital economy still accounting for around 5% of African GDP, against close to 15% worldwide, the paper calls on the continent to shift from a logic of technology consumption to one of value creation.
The white paper identifies three structuring priorities for African public actors:
- Building shared digital infrastructure that serves as the backbone of public services and private innovation.
- Pooling investment in order to reach critical mass and avoid the fragmentation of efforts across the continent.
- Favouring open and interoperable architectures, with trust and governance built in by design, so as to protect citizens while stimulating the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The white paper is available here to all public decision-makers, technical partners and institutions concerned.
“LEAD’s first cohort confirms a simple conviction: Africa already has the women and men capable of profoundly transforming public action. Our responsibility, either with our partners, is to give them, at pan-African level, a space in which to compare experience, build common solutions and bring forward a new generation of public policy. With this second cohort, we want to accelerate the move from ambition to execution, in particular on digital public infrastructure and artificial intelligence, two decisive issues for sovereignty, for the effectiveness of the state and for value creation across the continent,” says Amir Ben Yahmed, President of the Africa CEO Forum.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Africa is set to make history as it hosts the World Public Summit for the first time, with Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, welcoming global leaders and changemakers from July 29–30, 2026, for the landmark gathering under the theme “New World: Africa in Shaping a Shared Future.”
The inaugural African edition of the World Public Summit marks a significant milestone in the continent’s growing role in shaping international dialogue on governance, sustainable development, human-centred leadership and global cooperation.
Hosted by the World Peoples Assembly in partnership with African and international organisations, the summit will convene government officials, diplomats, business leaders, academics, journalists, youth representatives, civil society organisations and cultural leaders from across Africa and around the world.
According to Andrey Belyaninov, General Secretary of the World Peoples Assembly, “the Summit is not just a meeting—it is a space for unity. A space where the ‘values that unite us’ come to life: respect for people, openness to the world, responsibility for the future, and a commitment to creation.
“Today, we understand more clearly than ever: the future cannot be built alone. It is born in dialogue, in trust, in the ability to listen to one another and to act together.”
The programme begins on July 29 with a series of high-level roundtables and expert discussions covering Pan-African economic integration, civil society, education, scientific cooperation, cultural diplomacy and humanitarian partnerships.
The opening plenary, “Values, Development and Partnership as the Basis of a Sustainable and Just World,” will explore how African values—including Ubuntu—can help shape a more inclusive and sustainable global future. Discussions will also focus on youth leadership, innovation, civil society, ethical AI, public initiatives and international partnerships.
The summit will also showcase Africa’s creativity and innovation through the “Innovations for the Future” exhibition, the contemporary African art exhibition “Unity,” and the international exhibition “The World Paints Happiness.”
Another featured initiative is “The Zambezi River: Economy, Society, Soul,” an international interdisciplinary project exploring the river’s socioeconomic importance across Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, highlighting the shared heritage and development potential of one of Africa’s most important waterways.
The event will conclude with the adoption of the African Communiqué, reflecting the summit’s shared vision for stronger international cooperation, sustainable development and people-centred leadership.
Tsegaye Chama, General Secretary of the Global Black Centre, promised that, “The Summit will be delivered with exceptional distinction, reflecting the magnitude and spirit of the World Peoples Assembly. It embodies a unity that is not transactional, but purposeful and conscious, a unity that shapes new contours for a world that works for all peoples of the World.”
As delegates prepare to arrive in Addis Ababa, anticipation continues to build for what promises to be one of Africa’s most significant international gatherings of 2026—one that will place the continent firmly at the centre of global conversations about the future.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria regained its position as Africa’s leading destination for equity startup investment in the first half of 2026, raising $214 million in equity financing and a total of $254 million across equity and debt, according to the latest Africa: The Big Deal report.
The report, titled H1 2026: Mapping the Money, showed that Nigeria ranked second on the continent in total funding, behind Egypt, which attracted $327 million, while Kenya and South Africa followed with $126 million and $83 million, respectively.
However, the report noted that Egypt’s top position was largely driven by a single fundraising by electric mobility company Spiro, which secured $327 million, including $270 million in equity and $57 million in debt. Excluding debt financing, Nigeria emerged as Africa’s largest equity funding market in the first six months of the year.
According to the breakdown by Africa: The Big Deal, Nigeria’s equity funding of $214 million was higher than Egypt’s $183 million, while South Africa and Kenya attracted $66 million and $46 million, respectively.
Beyond funding value, Nigeria also led the continent in the number of startups that raised at least $100,000 during the review period, reclaiming the top spot after what the report described as an “underwhelming” second half of 2025.
The publication observed that Nigeria’s fundraising performance has remained relatively stable over the past few years and exceeded the $250 million mark for the first time since 2022, pointing to renewed investor confidence in the country’s startup ecosystem.
It also found that while the Big Four startup markets—Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa—continued to dominate Africa’s investment landscape, their combined share of total funding stood at 58 per cent in the first half of 2026.
“Zooming back on the Big Four (110 out of 190 $100k+ deals, i.e. 58%), Nigeria is head and shoulders above its peers, with Egypt and Kenya almost tying, and South Africa in fourth position again,” the report noted.
The report highlighted contrasting performances among the continent’s largest startup ecosystems. While Nigeria and Egypt maintained strong funding momentum, Kenya recorded its weakest funding performance since early 2021 after a strong second half of 2025, and South Africa failed to attract $100 million in funding during the period despite leading the continent a year earlier.
Africa: The Big Deal also noted a broader shift in investor behaviour, with funding increasingly concentrated in larger transactions while early-stage investments continued to decline. According to the publication, the drop in smaller funding rounds reflects growing concerns about limited capital available for early-stage startups across Africa.
