Is Africa rising? Or has it iterated rapidly and then stalled because the infrastructure and institutions aren’t good enough to sustain growth? The list of abandoned or mis-managed infrastructure projects is huge – and this has resulted in an understandable pessimism whenever a new project is announced.
Widespread Pessimism
The comments under a post announcing the Abidjan–Lagos Corridor Highway Project moving into operational phase was a perfect example. Concerns about checkpoints, corruption and security dominate alongside snarky comments about how delayed the project has been and questions about why it isn’t a railroad instead of a motorway. People are simply not optimistic that the project will deliver any improvements to their lives.
This road will pass through five nations – Cote D’Ivoire; Ghana; Togo; Benin and Nigeria. If drivers have to wait for hours (or even days) at each country border, they won’t use the road. Even at the Africa CEO Forum, where the people at the very top of Governments and private institutions from across the Continent were gathered, there were grumbles about visa issues.
The Importance of Infrastructure
And here lies the issue. You can’t deliver life-changing infrastructure projects if the underlying infrastructure – whether financing through to policy – is not in place. As Diane Karusisi, CEO of the Bank of Kigali told me emphatically, one assumption she disagrees with is that Africa can bypass the old path for development and leapfrog using new technologies.
“I don’t think there’s a shortcut to transformation. And I think the risk for us would be that we have access to these emerging technologies, but it doesn’t result into broad based prosperity.” Diane Karusisi, CEO of Bank of Kigali
She shares: “They argue that probably we won’t need or we could be able to avoid massive investments in infrastructure. But I don’t think it’s possible. I don’t think there’s a shortcut to transformation. And I think the risk for us would be that we have access to these emerging technologies, but it doesn’t result into broad based prosperity.”
The Rwandan Model
If we hone in on Rwanda, the infrastructure spend has been strategic and impactful for years. The United Nations Development Fund analysed the 2025-26 budget and described it as “a bold and expansionary fiscal stance” (PDF). The 21% increase from the previous fiscal year “…is more than just a numerical adjustment; it sends a strong policy signal of the government’s commitment to accelerating economic transformation while strengthening resilience against both persistent and emerging socio-economic shocks,” it writes.
The money is being spent on everything from expansion of irrigation schemes to tax incentives to bolster the Made-In-Rwanda policy. All projects, though, are focused on women and youth-led initiatives; “expanding social protection schemes, investing in rural and hard-to-reach areas, and mainstreaming gender and climate responsiveness across all programmes.”
“I hope…that if some of the institutional issues get solved or at least partially addressed, we will see an increasing numbers of countries in Africa climbing up that ladder and starting to grow both their income per capita and their living standards.” Professor Antonio Fatas, INSEAD
This is Rwanda doing the work – putting in place the groundworks – education, energy infrastructure, and climate resilience among them – that they can then build upon. As Professor Antonio Fatas from INSEAD told me earlier this year: “If you look at the growth rate of GDPs in Africa last year, it was decent. That’s what I see as a business leader. I see a market that is growing, and it’s going to continue going forward. I hope, though I’m not sure if I can bet on this – that if some of the institutional issues get solved or at least partially addressed, we will see an increasing numbers of countries in Africa climbing up that ladder and starting to grow both their income per capita and their living standards.”
Capability Building at the Core
Transformation, though, starts with people – and specifically, capability building. In our recent chat in Kigali, Diane talked specifically about literacy and how this has been a focus. After all, as she said: “I don’t think you can leapfrog your way to prosperity with people who are not literate”. Then there’s digital literacy as a layer on top of this. Educated and engaged citizens who feel they have some kind of shared ownership in what their country is trying to build are the ones driving growth in Rwanda. It is something the government continues to invest in.
“I don’t think you can leapfrog your way to prosperity with people who are not literate”. Diane Karusisi, CEO of Bank of Kigali
This is a lesson to every country and business. An education system, like all of the foundations of a society, requires strategic thinking, investment and innovation. That takes time. We hold Rwanda up as an example but we mustn’t ignore the decades of work that have gone in. Rwanda hasn’t leapfrogged, it has worked and worked, and not without set-backs and mistakes. This is why its growth has been sustained and remains sustainable even as geopolitics, climate change and war shakes our world.
