French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged €23bn ($27bn) of investment for Africa at the Africa Forward summit in Nairobi, positioning the package as part of a broader push to deepen France-Africa business ties and unlock more private capital for the continent.
The announcement came at the close of the summit’s business forum, which Macron said drew nearly 7,000 participants and more than 700 business meetings.
Of the total, €14bn ($16.4bn) will come from French companies, and €9bn ($10.5bn) from African entrepreneurs and investors, he said.
He said the commitments would create more than 250,000 direct jobs in France and Africa.
Macron framed the funding as evidence of a shift away from a traditional aid-based relationship towards co-investment and joint production.
“What the African continent is asking for is not that we come and give aid. They want us to come and invest,” he said.
Alongside the investment pledge, Kenya and France signed 11 agreements after bilateral talks between Macron and Kenyan President William Ruto at State House, Nairobi.
The deals cover transport, logistics, energy, agriculture, digital infrastructure, health, education and climate-related projects.
Ruto said one of the flagship agreements covers the rehabilitation and modernisation of the Nairobi Commuter Rail project at Ks12.5bn ($96.8m), including upgrades linking Nairobi with satellite towns such as Syokimau, Embakasi, Ruiru and Kikuyu.
The two countries also agreed on a joint venture to develop and finance logistics and port infrastructure worth about Ks104bn ($805.27mn).
Other agreements include cooperation on digital transformation, nuclear energy, blue economy and fisheries, sustainable aviation fuel production, agri-food systems and a 100MW expansion of the Kipeto Wind Energy Development Project valued at Ks32.5bn ($252mn).
“President Macron and I agreed that the Africa-France Summit must move beyond dialogue to implementation, with a clear focus on investment, innovation, and partnerships that deliver measurable results,” Ruto said.
Macron said France would also back efforts to reform the international financial architecture, including support for risk-sharing tools to attract private investment into Africa.
“There is no reason today for there to be so little private investment coming into a continent full of energy and youth,” Macron said.
