Deepening Development Finance On the Continent – Commends UBA’s Role
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has underscored the critical need for stronger collaboration between international financial centres and African markets as a means of unlocking the continent’s economic potential and driving sustainable development.
Adesina made the call during a courtesy visit to United Bank for Africa (UBA) UK Limited in London, recently where he engaged with senior executives of the pan-African financial institution on strengthening strategic partnerships and addressing long-standing misconceptions about investment risk in Africa.
In his remarks, the AfDB President challenged outdated narratives that continue to define the risk profile of African investments, citing research from Moody’s Analytics which places Africa’s investment default rate over the past 14 years at just 1.7 per cent markedly lower than Latin America’s 13 percent and Eastern Europe’s 10 percent.
Adesina said: “Our relationship with UBA represents one of many important partnerships the African Development Bank Group maintains with financial institutions across Africa. Over the years, our engagement has evolved, reflecting our shared interest in supporting Africa’s economic landscape,” Adesina noted.
Welcoming AfDB’s delegation, in a statement, the Chief Executive Officer of UBA UK, Theresa Henshaw, provided an overview of her bank’s operations in the United Kingdom, stating, “Our core focus is to facilitate trade, investment and aid flows into Africa, leveraging our deep understanding of the African financial landscape.”
The meeting explored several other sectors of interest to the AfDB ‘s development agenda, including agriculture, energy, women’s financial inclusion, and youth entrepreneurship.
Adesina highlighted the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative, which he designed and was officially launched by the French G7 Presidency in 2019. The program addresses the estimated $49 billion financing gap facing Africa’s women-led businesses.
As of March 2025, the AfDB Group through AFAWA had approved $2.5 billion in financing, with more than $1.2 billion already distributed to women entrepreneurs through a network of 185 AFAWA partner financial institutions in 44 African countries. The initiative has benefited more than 24,000 African women through financing and capacity building programs.
