Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group and its partners unveiled a series of new initiatives in energy, artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship and sports development during the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi.
The announcements were made during the opening day of the summit jointly organised by France and Kenya under the patronage of President Emmanuel Macron and President William Ruto.
According to AFD Group, the initiatives are aimed at accelerating investment and supporting high-impact projects across the African continent, in sectors including energy, digital infrastructure, sustainable development and entrepreneurship.
One of the key announcements was a €173 million financing package to improve electricity access in Benin.
The project, known as PEDER+, is being financed by AFD, the European Investment Bank (EIB Global), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), alongside support from the European Union.
The financing is expected to improve electricity access for about 600,000 people through the construction and rehabilitation of approximately 4,500 kilometres of power lines.
“Supported by the European Union under the Global Gateway initiative, the project also falls within the broader Mission 300 initiative, led by the World Bank and the African Development Bank, to accelerate electricity access for 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030,” read the statement.
AFD Group also announced new investments in artificial intelligence and scientific computing through a partnership with the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD).
The initiative seeks to establish a pan-African and European high-performance computing (HPC) network aimed at strengthening research and innovation in areas such as climate modelling, health, agriculture and natural resource management.
Alongside the summit, the Government of Kenya, Digital Africa, the Africa-Europe Foundation and AFD Group also organised a high-level dialogue on “sovereign and inclusive artificial intelligence” in Africa.
“Africa must be a co-author of the rules and uses of global artificial intelligence,” AFD Group said.
The discussions focused on talent development, digital infrastructure, data governance and strengthening Africa-Europe cooperation on emerging technologies.
On entrepreneurship, AFD highlighted the progress of the Choose Africa initiative, which provided nearly €3.5 billion in financing to more than 40,000 businesses between 2018 and 2022.
According to the agency, the programme helped create or maintain more than two million direct and indirect jobs across the continent.
AFD also announced that, together with NBA Africa, it had supported the renovation of basketball courts at the University of Nairobi through the Basketball Experience project.
The agency said it had reached its €500 million investment target in sport and development projects across Africa four years ahead of schedule.
“In total, more than 10 million young people have directly benefited from these initiatives in education, inclusion, health, and employment,” the statement noted.
