Uniting capital with purpose is at the heart of the expanding UAE-Africa partnership

The port at Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo. Capital from the UAE flows into renewable energy, logistics, ports, digital infrastructure and other sectors across Africa. Alamy

Africa is no longer a “future” opportunity. It is a present-day engine of global growth and innovation.

Home to about 1.5 billion people and the world’s youngest population, the continent is already reshaping global markets in energy, food, technology and culture. How the world chooses to partner with Africa over the coming decades will help define not only the continent’s trajectory, but our shared prosperity and stability.

The UAE’s relationship with Africa is rooted in proximity and long-standing human and cultural ties, and has evolved into a partnership based on mutual trust, respect and joint action. For the UAE – founded on connectivity, trade and a long-term vision of diversified growth – Africa is therefore not a distant trend, but a strategic opportunity and responsibility.

Between 2019 and 2023, Emirati investments in Africa surpassed $110 billion, making the UAE one of the continent’s most important global partners. With capital flowing into renewable energy, logistics, ports, digital infrastructure and other sectors, trade has expanded rapidly, underscoring the UAE’s role as a natural bridge between Africa, Asia and Europe.

In my role as a Special Envoy for Business and Philanthropy, I have seen how these economic ties increasingly go hand in hand with a deeper sense of shared purpose. Across Africa and the UAE, leading business families, foundations and social investors are converging around priorities that matter to people’s daily lives: education, youth employment, health, climate resilience and community development.

This week, the UAE is hosting a high-level delegation of African business and philanthropic leaders for a series of conversations. Between them, they have built some of the continent’s most influential companies and platforms, and established major foundations that support millions across Africa in entrepreneurship, education, health care and good governance.

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Their presence in the UAE is not about a single deal or headline. It is about connecting ecosystems: African capital and talent with Emirati capital and connectivity; African innovation with Emirati technology platforms; African and Emirati philanthropy with shared development goals. It is also about encouraging more investment and activity in the UAE itself, making our country a natural home for African companies, funds and initiatives engaging with the wider world.

Africa today is a story of scale and imagination. The African Continental Free Trade Area, once fully implemented, will knit dozens of markets into one of the largest free trade areas in the world. Unlocking this potential, however, requires massive investment in transport, logistics, power and digital infrastructure, alongside reforms that make it easier to move goods, services, data and capital across borders.

This is precisely where UAE-Africa collaboration can be transformative. Emirati companies are helping to upgrade ports, logistics corridors and renewable energy projects across the continent, while African firms increasingly use the UAE as their international base. Our growing focus on technology and innovation – from artificial intelligence to fintech and agritech – creates further opportunities to co-develop solutions tailored to African markets.

In this spirit, the UAE has launched the $1 billion “AI for Development” initiative to support artificial intelligence projects across Africa in sectors such as education, agriculture and infrastructure. Looking ahead to next year, the UN Water Conference to be co-hosted by the UAE and the Republic of Senegal will provide another important platform for Africa. The UAE and partners from around the world will collaborate on one of humanity’s most pressing shared challenges: securing sustainable and equitable access to water.

The choice before us is therefore not whether to engage, but how

To continue turning ambition into lasting, scalable impact, we must go beyond traditional models of investment or aid. We need partnerships in which commercial capital, development finance and philanthropic resources reinforce one another. Many of the African leaders visiting this week already embody this approach, coupling large-scale businesses with institutionalised philanthropy focused on entrepreneurship, youth and community resilience. On the UAE side, a growing ecosystem of sovereign funds, family businesses, impact investors and philanthropic institutions is increasingly focused on measurable social and environmental outcomes, not just financial returns.

The UAE is uniquely placed to serve as a neutral, trusted platform for this kind of multi-stakeholder collaboration. Our geography links Africa to the Gulf, South Asia and East Asia, and our ports, airlines and digital infrastructure connect more than two thirds of the world’s population within an eight-hour flight. In practical terms, this can translate into African entrepreneurs using the UAE as a launchpad into new markets; Emirati and African family businesses co-investing in lower-carbon energy, digital infrastructure and agritech; and philanthropic foundations aligning around shared programmes in education, skills and climate resilience.

The stakes could not be higher. Demographically, Africa will add hundreds of millions of young people to the global workforce in the coming decades. If those young people can access education, digital tools and opportunity, they will drive a wave of innovation and growth that benefits the world.

The choice before us is therefore not whether to engage, but how. The UAE-Africa relationship offers one compelling answer: a partnership grounded in mutual respect, shared prosperity and a belief that capital and conscience belong together. If we succeed in deepening this model – where trade and investment flow alongside knowledge, technology and philanthropic collaboration – the UAE-Africa partnership can become one of the defining success stories of our era: a story of two dynamic regions working together to turn opportunity into lasting, shared value for generations to come.