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ith a financing gap of up to $100 billion per year, unlocking capital for Africa’s infrastructure requires a confluence of innovative technical and financial solutions. In 2024, the United States and African countries partnered to employ this approach, addressing critical infrastructure priorities such as those in the digital, transportation, and energy sectors. 

While 87% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa live in an area with mobile broadband coverage, 40% lack connectivity due to factors such as digital illiteracy, handset costs, and unaffordable data. Effective project preparation can help narrow this gap.  

For example, in Nigeria, a US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) feasibility study helped mobilize Naira-based financing for an internet service provider (ISP) to electrify its mobile infrastructure using solar energy. Creative local currency financing allowed the ISP to circumvent Nigeria’s shortage of US dollars and the currency fluctuation risks that can imperil project viability. In 2024, the ISP utilized this financing to deploy an innovative US Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) architecture. Because Open RAN enables the interoperability of equipment from multiple vendors, the ISP was able to lower costs and create more affordable connectivity for nearly 100,000 underserved Nigerians. 

Multilateral partnerships are critical for developing high-standard, large-scale regional infrastructure projects. In the rail sector, the Africa Finance Corporation signed concession agreements with the Angolan and Zambian governments to finance, build, own, and operate a transformational 485-mile rail line between Angola’s Port of Lobito and Zambia’s resource-rich Copperbelt region. Contributing to a whole-of-government effort, USTDA funded an environmental and social impact assessment to help align the project with international best practices and attract capital for its implementation. 

In the energy sector, less than half of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population can access electricity. Bringing power to consumers and businesses requires harnessing innovation for off-grid renewable energy, grid expansion and modernization, power generation, and market-friendly frameworks to attract private investment. In one notable deal, an Abuja-based manufacturer will purchase electricity both on-grid from the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company and off-grid from a private developer of a solar power plant with battery storage. This innovative hybrid arrangement, developed through a USTDA-funded feasibility study, is among the first of its kind in Nigeria. It will help the manufacturer transition from diesel to solar power, connect to the grid for the first time, cut costs, reduce carbon emissions, and serve as a model for other companies.  

Closing Africa’s infrastructure financing gap also requires attracting new sources of capital. USTDA is doing so through partnerships with entities such as Paris-based Meridiam SAS, which has invested $85 billion in assets and joins other USTDA partners such as the Investor Leadership Network.  

While securing this capital is critical, maximizing its impact requires procurement practices that prioritize long-term value-for-money principles, as well as capacity-building for the African professionals who will execute the growing number of infrastructure transactions that we should expect in the years to come. 

Enoh T. Ebong is the director of the US Trade and Development Agency.