Investors Urged to Turn Africa’s Mineral Wealth Into Industrial Growth

Africa’s position as a major supplier of critical minerals is creating an opportunity to build industries that extend far beyond the mine, but unlocking that opportunity will require new flows of long-term capital, according to discussions at a major investor forum in New York.

The Africa Critical Minerals Investor Forum, held on September 23 on the margins of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, brought together African political and economic leaders, international investors, mining specialists, development-finance representatives and U.S. capital-markets professionals.

Its theme, **“From Mine to Markets: Financing Africa’s Critical Minerals Through U.S. Capital,”** captured the central challenge facing the continent.

Africa has many of the minerals needed for the global energy transition.

The challenge is developing the processing, refining, manufacturing, infrastructure and technology industries that can transform those resources into greater economic value.

According to International Energy Agency figures cited during the forum, Africa supplies approximately 75% of global manganese, 70% of cobalt and nearly 20% of copper.

Yet the continent captures less than 1% of the value generated from manufacturing clean-energy technologies and their components.

The contrast has become more significant as demand rises for minerals used in batteries, renewable-energy systems, electricity networks and advanced technologies.

It also comes as global mineral supply chains remain concentrated.

The IEA data cited at the forum indicate that the average share of the top refining country across key energy minerals reached approximately 70% in 2025.

For African countries, this presents both an opportunity and a financing challenge.

Mineral deposits can generate export revenues, but much of the economic activity associated with processing and manufacturing can occur elsewhere.

The question is therefore how to finance the industrial capacity needed to move more stages of the value chain closer to the source of the minerals.

That was the issue addressed by Muazzam Mairawani, Founder and Group Chairman of MSM Group and Chairman of MSM Frontier Capital Acquisition Corporation.

“Africa does not suffer from a shortage of opportunity. Africa suffers from a shortage of capital moving at the speed of opportunity,” Mairawani said.

His remarks placed financing at the centre of the continent’s industrialisation challenge.

The scale of the opportunity extends beyond individual mining operations.

Processing facilities require power. Refineries require infrastructure. Manufacturing plants require reliable logistics. Industrial zones require transport and energy connections. Companies seeking to operate internationally require appropriate corporate structures and access to markets.

The critical-minerals economy therefore depends on an ecosystem.

Mairawani argued that Africa’s future cannot be built around one sector.

“Africa’s future will not be built by one sector. It will be built by an industrial ecosystem,” he said.

He described an approach that links mining with energy, manufacturing, agriculture, logistics and global markets.

Under such a model, mineral resources become inputs into broader industrial activity.

Cobalt can be considered in the context of battery-related industries. Copper can support electrical infrastructure and manufacturing. Energy resources can power factories. Ports can serve as industrial gateways. Agriculture can move towards more integrated agribusiness value chains.

The objective is to create connections between sectors rather than treating mineral extraction as an isolated activity.

The discussions in New York came on the same day that the United Nations announced its **Country Support Mechanism on Critical Energy Transition Minerals**.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the mechanism would support resource-rich developing countries in building sustainable, responsible and resilient mineral value chains, with greater benefits reaching countries and communities where the resources originate.

The first six partner countries are Guinea, Indonesia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The UN announcement added an international policy dimension to the investor forum’s financial discussion.

The two conversations centred on the same fundamental issue: how can resource-rich countries secure more of the value associated with the global demand for critical minerals?

For Africa, the answer increasingly involves industrialisation.

The forum’s programme therefore went beyond mineral deposits and commodity prices.

A session on country risk and the rule of law examined political stability, contract enforceability and governance.

These are important considerations for investors evaluating projects that may require large amounts of capital and long development periods.

The forum then considered how African opportunities can access U.S. financial markets.

The panel **“Financing the Pathway to U.S. Markets”** was moderated by Crocker Coulson of AUM Advisors.

Panelists included Joe Riggio, Founding Partner at Jett Capital; Mitch Nussbaum, Co-Chair at Loeb & Loeb LLP; Patrick A. Sturgeon, Managing Partner at Brookline Capital Markets; and Gracelin Baskaran, Director of the Critical Minerals Security Program.

The session examined transaction structures, due diligence, governance, legal requirements and the use of U.S. public markets and SPAC structures.

The purpose was to explore mechanisms through which capital can reach critical-minerals opportunities while meeting the requirements associated with international investment.

That distinction is significant.

The challenge is not simply attracting money to Africa.

It is creating investment-ready businesses and projects capable of using capital to build lasting productive capacity.

For African countries, this means thinking about the entire value chain.

Who owns the mine is only one question.

Who owns the refinery? Who owns the processing facility? Who provides the technology? Who controls logistics? Who owns the manufacturing company? Where are the jobs created? Where does the intellectual and technical capability develop?

Those questions determine how much value remains in producing countries.

The forum argued for a model in which Africa’s resources become inputs into African industrialisation rather than simply exports from Africa.

Mairawani described a future in which gas can power African industries before being exported, minerals can support batteries and advanced manufacturing, agriculture can develop into agribusiness and ports can become industrial gateways.

The broader proposition is that infrastructure and natural resources can support multiple layers of economic activity.

The issue has also become important to global markets.

Economies seeking secure supplies of critical minerals have an interest in diversified sources of supply. Resource-rich African countries have an interest in developing more value within their own economies.

Investors have an interest in identifying projects capable of generating sustainable returns.

Governments have an interest in jobs, industrial capacity and economic development.

The critical-minerals sector brings these interests together.

The forum included prominent African figures such as Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, IGAD Executive Secretary Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima Mustapha, Muhammadu Sanusi II, 16th Emir of Kano and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Bank of Industry Nigeria Chairman Mansur Muhtar and Islamic Development Bank Director General Issa Faye.

Their participation reflected the increasingly broad significance of the minerals debate.

Critical minerals are no longer solely a question for mining companies.

They are connected to economic policy, industrialisation, infrastructure, finance and international relations.

Africa’s resource position gives it an important role in the global energy transition.

But the economic benefits of that role will depend on what happens beyond extraction.

The continent could continue supplying raw materials while much of the processing and manufacturing takes place elsewhere.

Alternatively, investment could support the development of domestic and regional value chains.

The forum did not present that transition as automatic.

Instead, it emphasised the need for capital, investment-ready opportunities, governance, infrastructure and access to international markets.

For MSM Frontier Capital, the goal is to help connect those elements.

Mairawani summarised the next step in direct terms: **“Now we must convert confidence into capital. And capital into industries.”**

The statement captures the financing challenge behind Africa’s critical-minerals opportunity.

The continent has resources.

The world has demand.

Financial markets have capital.

What remains is the bridge between them.

That bridge will determine whether Africa’s critical-minerals story is primarily an export story or part of a larger industrial transformation.

As the forum concluded, the measure of success may ultimately be not only how many tonnes of minerals are produced, but how much value, infrastructure, business capability and industrial capacity those minerals help create and retain within Africa.

Mairawani’s final formulation was equally direct: **“The greatest investment story of the twenty-first century will not simply happen in Africa. It will be led by Africa.”**