• H.E. Dr. Patrick Herminie – President of the Republic of Seychelles
• H.E. Amb. Selma Malika Haddadi – Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission
• H.E. Amb. Marie-Antoinette Rose-Quatre – Chief Executive Officer, African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)
• H.E. Ms. Lerato Dorothy Mataboge – Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, African Union Commission
• H.E. Amb. Bankole Adeoye – Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, African Union Commission
• Hon Mark-Alexandre DOUMBA – Minister of Digital Economy, Digitalization and Innovation of Gabon
• Hon Pierre Laporte – Minister for Finance, Economic Planning, Trade and Investment, Republic of Seychelles
• H.E. Abdullah KH Almusaibeeh – President, BADEA
• Mr. Joe Mensah – Senior Vice President and Head of Ghana Unit, Kosmos Energy
• Mrs Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade – Senior Vice President, African Development Bank
• Ms Boitumelo Mosako – Chief Executive Officer, Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)
• Mr. Oliver Alawuba – Group Managing Director/CEO, UBA Group
• Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi – Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Federal Republic of Nigeria
Captains of Industry Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ministers, Esteemed Leaders, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me begin by thanking you all for honouring our invitation to the Forward Africa Leaders Symposium — FALS Global Conversations 2026.
My sincere appreciation to H.E. Amb. Marie-Antoinette Rose-Quatre – Chief Executive Officer, African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the entire APRM team for co-hosting tonight.
FALS was founded on a simple conviction:
Africa does not lack leadership, ideas or ambition. What we need are more spaces where leadership, policy, capital and implementation can come together around the issues that will shape our collective future – yes there is also the conviction that there are too many conference. But I believe the many conferences have in many ways shaped the growth trajectory of our beloved continent.
That is the purpose of FALS.
We bring together those who shape policy, those who deploy capital, those who build businesses and systems and those who can help turn ambition into implementation.
Over the past three years, FALS has evolved into a platform for high-level conversations on Africa’s digital and governance future — creating bridges between government and capital, policy and enterprise, African markets and global markets.
And one lesson has become increasingly clear:
Africa’s challenges are interconnected and therefore our solutions must be interconnected.
Digital transformation cannot be separated from governance. Infrastructure cannot be separated from capital. Market integration cannot be separated from mobility. And investment cannot be separated from institutional confidence.
FROM CONVERSATION TO ARCHITECTURE
As we enter our fourth edition, we are therefore moving the conversation forward.
The question is no longer simply what Africa needs, but:
What systems must we build, align and connect to make Africa’s opportunities investable, scalable and accessible?
Africa has spent the last decade building critical assets — connectivity networks, digital platforms, payment systems, data infrastructure, energy systems and financial infrastructure.
The next decade is about architecture: ensuring these assets work together to connect markets, enable the movement of people and talent, strengthen competitiveness and unlock investment.
That is the conversation we are convening in New York.
WHY NEW YORK, AND WHY NOW
We return to New York during UNGA week because it brings together an extraordinary concentration of African and global leadership, international institutions, investors and business leaders.
We want to use that moment not simply for another event, but for principals-level dialogue, strategic relationship-building and practical outcomes.
This year’s focus — Market Access, The Future of Work, and Investable Ecosystems to support the scaling of critical and strategic infrastructure — reflects that ambition.
We will examine how digital transformation can deepen market integration, improve access to opportunity, support the movement of talent and skills, strengthen migration governance, mobilise capital and accelerate investment in the infrastructure Africa needs.
FROM DIALOGUE TO OUTCOMES
Importantly, FALS is not intended to end when the room empties.
One of the outcomes already emerging from this year’s programme is the establishment of the APRM E-Governance Community of Practice, following the expert roundtable convened ahead of today’s plenary.
This is exactly the kind of outcome we want FALS to facilitate: a conversation that becomes an institutional mechanism for continued action.
We are also advancing the FALS Investment Playbook 2026 — capturing the investment opportunities, frameworks and pathways emerging from these conversations so that the value of this gathering extends beyond today.
These are important steps in the evolution of FALS:
from dialogue to frameworks; from relationships to partnerships; from individual projects to investable systems; and from ideas to implementation.
Ultimately, the measure of a leadership platform is not the number of people it gathers.
It is what becomes possible because they gathered.
So, as we begin this fourth edition, I invite everyone in this room to bring not only your experience and expertise, but your networks, your capital and your willingness to build across institutional and national boundaries.
Because Africa’s next chapter will not be built in silos.
Governance must speak to investment. Investment must speak to infrastructure. Infrastructure must speak to markets. Markets must speak to mobility. And all of them must ultimately speak to people.
That is the leadership conversation FALS was created to convene.
Three years ago, we set out to create a platform for important conversations.
Today, in our fourth edition, we are beginning to build the architecture around them.
Welcome to FALS Global Conversations 2026. And thank you for being part of the journey.
