Africa has great potential and capacity to mobilise over $4 trillion to fund businesses and infrastructure in the continent, Chairman, United Bank for Africa, Tony Elumelu has said.

Speaking yesterday during the launch of White Paper on Africa Financial Infrastructure at the sidelines of the ongoing World Bank/IMF Annual meetings in Washington DC, he said the continent has what it takes to thrive but needs support from domestic and global investors to raise needed capital for the continent’s growth.

He said UBA is by the White Paper, starting a process that will lead to great funding changes in the continent.

“We have untapped economic resources that can move the life of Africa forward. We need to work it out, which is why United Bank of Africa, white paper, is all about bringing up policy makers, global policy makers together to find funding solutions for the continent’s needs”.

“That’s why it’s holding at the premises of the World Bank, IMF, annual meeting 2025. We are bringing finance ministers on the continent, finance institutions leadership, leading commercial fund to all work together, think together to get the desired funding results,” he said.

Elumelu said that infrastructure, especially electricity is key in finding these solutions.

Also speaking, President of Afreximbank, Benedict Oramah commended UBA for taking the giant step in the interest of Africa. He said UBA has set the pace by starting a process that will enable the continent access more capital that can easily be deployed into solving problems of the continent.

Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite commended UBA for the launching the White Paper which she said will be instrumental in bridging funding gap for the continent.

Earlier Elumelu said that Africa was determined to adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) despite challenges of infrastructure funding, electricity and healthcare in the continent.

Speaking during the “Boosting Productivity Growth in the Digital Age” session he said that productivity in the digital age is about people and right tools to achieve results.

Elumelu, who spoke in a panel alongside the IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, said that while Africa is blessed with good demographics, including young population, and productive workforce.

Elumelu said: ”AI is a great opportunity that we can take advantage of in Africa, but, there are structural barriers that we need to fix on the continent. We have infrastructure deficit on the continent. Access to electricity is so critical for the advancement of AI, and of course, the productivity that comes with it. We do have this challenge on the continent”.

According to Elumelu, Africa needs access to capital that can access. So, we need to find a therapy that addresses these challenges for us to win massive investment in AI, in infrastructure that boost capabilities and productivity of the continent.

He said that Google platform and Tony Elumelu Foundation, have been working together to support more young African entrepreneurs.

“What we have on the continent, we have a youth that is energetic, eager and willing to do something but constrained by some of the barriers that exist. So, when we come together to support these youth, we’re actually helping the world to improve productivity,” he said.

He said that there has been great impact in combining resources and helping to improve access to digital infrastructure and ultimately to drive efficiency.

“So, for the African continent, there’s a lot that we can do with our development partners. Africa tried in the area of mobile money, not because our systems were perfect, but because entrepreneurs came together and innovated around the constraints,” he said.

Elumelu called on public, private development partners, big technology companies, institutions like the IMF to work together to ensure that AI and its productivity, enhancement and efficiency works for all.

On her part, IMF chief Georgieva said that productivity is what powers prosperity for people.

“Breakthroughs in technology, finance, and globalization have lifted growth for decades—but often at the cost of middle-class security and widening divides across regions and communities. In recent years, the engine of productivity has slowed, dragging down growth momentum worldwide,” she said.

According to her, the world is now in a new wave of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, promises another leap forward.

“Will it deliver shared prosperity, or widen existing gaps? This seminar brings together leading thinkers to explore how policies can turn today’s innovations into inclusive, broad-based growth—and ensure everyone shares in the productivity dividend,” she said.

“But from the standpoint of the fun, what we want is to see across the world, faster advancement in AI and adaptation, not just having a data center, producing all kinds of things, but then having AI transforming across the board, the way we work, the way we live, the way we interact with each other,” she added.

Other speakers in the panel include, Minister of Finance for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Al-Jadaan, Ruth Porat who has held the position of President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google, Director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution, David Wessel and Professor of Entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of Management, head of the Global Economics and Management group, Simon Johnson.