By Celestine Avi and Seth Eyiah
President John Dramani Mahama has urged global investors to rethink long-standing perceptions of Africa as a high-risk destination, insisting that the continent represents the most significant growth frontier in the global economy.
Addressing the 12th Africa Debates at London’s Guildhall, President Mahama said the next phase of global growth will not be driven solely by advanced economies, but increasingly by emerging regions such as Africa, with its expanding population, rapid urbanisation, rising consumption, and growing productive capacity.
“Africa is not a risk to be managed. Africa is an opportunity to be seized,” he told the gathering of business leaders and policymakers.
He argued that investors who delay engagement with the continent risk missing what he described as the opportunity of a generation.
President Mahama pointed to Africa’s demographic and resource strengths, noting that the continent is home to the world’s youngest population, with projections indicating that by 2051, one in every four people globally will be African.
He also highlighted Africa’s vast mineral endowments, including cobalt, lithium, manganese, copper, bauxite, and rare earth elements, describing them as critical to the global energy transition.
In addition, he cited the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as a game-changing framework already opening new pathways for industrialisation, manufacturing, and intra-African trade, and positioning Africa as an integrated economic bloc.
Despite global economic uncertainty, he said Africa continues to demonstrate resilience, remaining one of the world’s fastest-growing regions at a time when several advanced economies are experiencing stagnation.
Turning to Ghana, President Mahama said the country illustrates the broader continental opportunity. He noted that when he assumed office in January 2025, Ghana faced high inflation, a sharply depreciated currency, weakened investor confidence, and the aftermath of a difficult debt restructuring process.
He said that within 18 months, the economy had been stabilised, with declining inflation, improved fiscal performance, stronger reserves, currency stability, and improved investor sentiment reflected in positive credit outlook revisions.
According to him, Ghana is now being repositioned as a productive, export-oriented economy anchored on industrialisation, agro-processing, logistics, digital transformation, and value addition.
He further noted ongoing investments in critical infrastructure, including roads, rail, ports, energy, aviation, digital systems, and skills development, as part of efforts to support that transformation.
“For investors gathered here today, Ghana offers political stability, democratic continuity, strategic geographical access to the West African sub-region, and a government committed to reform and private sector growth,” he said.
President Mahama added that the world is undergoing a profound economic and geopolitical transition, with shifting trade patterns, evolving alliances, reconfigured supply chains, and tightening development finance.
In that changing landscape, he said Africa is not a passive bystander but a central force shaping the future of the global economy, one that forward-looking investors cannot afford to ignore.
