Bio, Elumelu Rally West African Private Sector to Drive Regional Integration
Leaders urge businesses to mobilise capital, expand cross-border trade and create jobs ahead of November investment summit in Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio and Heirs Holdings Chairman Tony O. Elumelu have called on West Africa’s private sector to turn regional integration commitments into tangible economic gains through increased investment, industrial development and job creation.
The two leaders made the call in Lagos during a meeting of the Private Sector Advisory Board of the West Africa Integration and Investment Summit (WAIIS), hosted by Elumelu ahead of the inaugural summit scheduled for November 17–18, 2026, in Sierra Leone.
The meeting brought together prominent African investors, financial institutions and business leaders to discuss investment opportunities and identify practical measures to accelerate economic cooperation across the region.
Discussions centred on four strategic areas: energy trade and industrialisation, strategic minerals, agribusiness and digital transformation.
President Bio, the immediate past Chair of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, said WAIIS would help consolidate West Africa’s market of more than 400 million people while attracting investment from within the region and internationally.
“We are partners in execution, let us transform ideas into partnerships, partnerships into investments, and investments into lasting prosperity for our continent,” Bio told members of the advisory board.
He stressed that the region must move beyond recognising its economic advantages and focus on building productive enterprises, competitive industries and regional value chains.
“But potential is not prosperity. Our task is to convert these advantages into productive enterprises, competitive industries, regional value chains, jobs and wealth,” he said.
Elumelu welcomed Bio’s initiative to place private capital and enterprise at the centre of West Africa’s economic transformation. He pledged to support efforts to mobilise African and international investment alongside financial institutions, including the Africa Finance Corporation, Afreximbank, United Bank for Africa and Ecobank.
The Heirs Holdings chairman said businesses must increasingly operate across national boundaries, pooling capital, expertise and capabilities to establish industries that can compete internationally while expanding employment opportunities.
“This is consistent with our aspirations to create jobs for our young people,” Elumelu said. “We have all it takes to be prosperous.”
He, however, emphasised that governments must complement private sector ambition with predictable policies, efficient regulation and security to encourage long-term investment.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu also called for industrialisation and the free movement of goods and services, saying businesses need policy certainty and assurances that enable them to invest, produce and trade across borders.
As preparations for the summit intensify, Bio urged advisory board members to shift from advocacy to active investment mobilisation. He called on them to engage prospective investors, connect them with viable projects and identify financing gaps and policy interventions needed to advance transactions.
WAIIS will be held at the Julius Maada Bio International Conference Centre in Lungi, Sierra Leone, bringing together heads of state, investors and business leaders to advance investment in key sectors of the West African economy.
The summit's private sector advisory board includes Dangote Group President and Chief Executive Aliko Dangote, FA Limited Executive Vice Chairman Apostle Folorunso Alakija, Petrolin Group Founding Chairman Samuel Dossou-Aworet, Afreximbank President George Elombi and BUA Group Chairman Abdul Samad Rabiu.
Other members include Oando Group Chief Executive Wale Tinubu, Africa Finance Corporation President Samaila Zubairu, Africa50 Chief Executive Alain Ebobissé, Central Bank of West African States Governor Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, Orango Investment Corporation Chairman Paulo Gomes, Africa Trading Minerals Chairman Benedict Okey Oramah and Teyliom Group Chairman Habib Yérim Sow.
The initiative is anchored in the belief that closer cooperation between governments, businesses and financial institutions can unlock West Africa’s resources, entrepreneurial talent and economic scale to deliver shared prosperity.
