In New York, the message conveyed by Unstoppable Africa takes on a particular tone. Faced with investors, big bosses and political leaders, Africa is no longer just looking to attract capital. It wants to impose a more decisive question: where should this capital create value?

On September 20 and 21, more than 3,000 participants converged on the Marriott Marquis in Times Square for the fifth edition of the summit organized by the Global Africa Business Initiative under the aegis of the UN and the African Union. The influx gives a clear indication that the continent is now at the center of conversations about resources, energy, digital, trade and new markets.

Guterres set the tone with a phrase that sums up this shift: « We are moving from doing business in Africa to doing business with Africa. » Behind this lexical nuance lies a major economic battle. Africa has about 30% of the world’s mineral resources, immense solar potential, and a fast-growing labor force. Yet, a considerable part of the value still leaves the continent before industrial transformation.

Aliko Dangote has raised this issue with frankness. His call to mobilize African capital to finance refineries, factories and industrial infrastructure goes to the heart of the problem. African money exists. Savings exist. Entrepreneurs exist. The difficulty remains the ability to direct these resources towards projects capable of producing locally, creating value chains and retaining more wealth.

The AfCFTA appears here as a strategic lever. With a potential continental market estimated at several trillion dollars, it can provide African industries with the scale they still lack.

In New York, Africa sold a precise economic vision, that of transforming raw materials, developing industries, connecting markets and attracting capital to production. The true success of Unstoppable Africa will now be measured far from the bright lights of Times Square, in the factories, power plants, digital infrastructure and businesses that will come into being.