Lagos hosts Africa Social Impact Summit urging innovative financing partnerships

Lagos hosted the 2026 Africa Social Impact Summit (ASIS) at the Eko Convention Center, where Governor Babajide Sanwo‑Olu called for a new financing model based on stronger partnerships between governments, the private sector, development finance institutions and impact investors. He emphasized that Africa’s annual financing gap for the Sustainable Development Goals runs into hundreds of billions of dollars and that collective action is needed to mobilise private capital, deepen domestic markets and attract long‑term investment for infrastructure, clean energy, health, education and climate resilience.

Chairman Banji Oyelaran‑Oyeyinka of the Africa Social Impact Network highlighted the summit’s theme – “Financing for Development: Building Resilience and Transforming Emerging Economies” – as a response to Africa’s twin challenges of financing growth and shielding societies from economic, environmental and social shocks. He warned that the continent will add more than 620 million workers to its labour force between 2025 and 2050, stressing the need for manufacturing‑driven industrialisation and innovative financing to avoid a structural growth trap.