By Kehinde Ibrahim, Lagos
NIGERIAN Exchange Group Plc (NGX Group) is strengthening efforts to promote cross-border investment and deepen cooperation among African capital markets through engagements with financial institutions and securities exchanges in Egypt and Ethiopia.
The discussions, held in Cairo and Addis Ababa, explored ways to improve market connectivity, expand investment opportunities for African investors and mobilise domestic capital to finance industrial development across the continent. The proposed offer by Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE served as a practical framework for examining how investors in different African markets could gain access to investment opportunities beyond their national borders.
The engagements took place with the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), in collaboration with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), hosting the Cairo meeting, while the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX) hosted the engagement in Addis Ababa.
The meetings brought together exchange executives, financial institutions and other capital market stakeholders to examine practical solutions to the barriers limiting cross-border investment and the mobilisation of African capital for productive economic activities.
Speaking during the engagements, Temi Popoola, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NGX Group, said Africa needed stronger market infrastructure and institutional cooperation to connect its substantial domestic capital with investment opportunities across the continent.
He noted that pension funds, insurance companies and other institutional investors controlled significant financial resources that could support businesses and large-scale industrial projects if effective mechanisms were established to facilitate investment across different markets.
According to him, the Dangote refinery offer presents an opportunity to address some of the structural challenges affecting cross-border investment while establishing a framework that could support future transactions across African capital markets.
Popoola said the initiative was not limited to a single investment opportunity but was intended to demonstrate how African capital could be mobilised more effectively to finance the continent’s economic growth.
He said, “Africa has substantial capital within its own markets, particularly across pension funds and insurance companies. The challenge is how to connect that capital to investment opportunities across the continent.
“The Dangote Refinery offer provides a practical opportunity to address some of the infrastructure barriers to cross-border investment. Beyond a single transaction, it is about creating connections that enable African capital to finance African growth.”
Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, described the refinery as an example of the scale of industrial investment required to strengthen Africa’s productive capacity, reduce dependence on imports and support sustainable economic growth.
He emphasised the need to establish more effective channels through which African investors could participate in financing major industrial enterprises, arguing that stronger domestic investment mobilisation would be important to the continent’s long-term development.
Dangote also commended NGX Group for coordinating the engagement among African exchanges and acknowledged the participating institutions for their willingness to collaborate on expanding investment opportunities across the continent.
He said stronger cooperation among capital market institutions could help create new avenues for African investors to participate in major businesses while supporting the development of industries capable of generating economic value across national boundaries.
Similarly, Alhaji Umaru Kwairanga, Group Chairman of NGX Group, said sustainable progress in cross-border investment would require long-term institutional partnerships and investment in the infrastructure needed to make transactions more accessible and efficient.
Kwairanga stressed that cooperation among securities exchanges, regulators, financial institutions and businesses would be essential to building an integrated African investment environment.
He noted that technological development and improved market infrastructure would also be necessary to reduce operational barriers, strengthen investor participation and facilitate the movement of capital between markets.
“Our task is not simply to collaborate around one offer, but to develop lasting partnerships that support cross-border investment and capital formation across Africa. This requires cooperation among exchanges, regulators, financial institutions and businesses, alongside investment in the infrastructure and technology that make participation more accessible,” he said.
At the Cairo engagement, Omar Radwan, Executive Chairman of the Egyptian Exchange, highlighted the potential of Egyptian Depositary Receipts (EDRs) to provide Egyptian investors with access to selected African businesses.
He said the instrument could offer a possible route for facilitating investment in companies operating in other African markets, subject to the relevant regulatory and operational requirements.
Radwan expressed the EGX’s readiness to work with Dangote Industries to explore a suitable framework for such an arrangement, which could broaden investment options for Egyptian investors and strengthen financial links between Egypt and other African economies.
The discussions also underscored the importance of developing practical mechanisms that would enable investors to participate in opportunities across jurisdictions without facing unnecessary operational difficulties.
Dr. George Elombi, President and Chairman of Afreximbank, reaffirmed the bank’s longstanding financing relationship with Dangote Industries and its commitment to supporting industrial development across Africa.
He highlighted the importance of directing African investment towards enterprises with the capacity to strengthen productive industries, expand economic activity and contribute to the continent’s transformation.
Afreximbank’s participation in the initiative reflects the broader role financial institutions can play in connecting capital providers with businesses requiring long-term financing for industrial expansion and economic development.
In Ethiopia, the engagement focused on expanding investment opportunities for local investors and strengthening the country’s participation in Africa’s evolving capital market landscape.
Yodit Kassa, Chief Executive Officer of the Ethiopian Securities Exchange, welcomed the initiative, describing it as an opportunity to broaden investment choices for Ethiopian investors and strengthen engagement between the country’s emerging capital market and established African businesses.
Kassa said the proposed Dangote Petroleum Refinery offer could provide Ethiopian investors with an opportunity to participate in the growth of a major African industrial enterprise, while supporting efforts to deepen the country’s capital market.
“The Dangote Petroleum Refinery offer represents an important opportunity for Ethiopian investors to participate in the growth of one of Africa’s leading industrial enterprises. It also reflects the growing confidence in Ethiopia’s capital market and our readiness to work with leading institutions across the continent,” she said.
The Addis Ababa discussions also highlighted the potential benefits of stronger collaboration between the ESX and other African exchanges in expanding investment access, strengthening market participation and creating opportunities for Ethiopian capital to support businesses operating elsewhere on the continent.
The engagements in Egypt and Ethiopia followed earlier stops at the Nairobi Securities Exchange and the Botswana Stock Exchange, extending NGX Group’s efforts to promote cross-border investment collaboration across several African markets.
The wider initiative seeks to demonstrate how cooperation among securities exchanges and financial institutions could help overcome longstanding barriers that have restricted the movement of investment capital across national borders.
However, effective cross-border investment requires more than agreements between exchanges. Participants identified several operational and regulatory considerations that must be addressed to enable investors to participate in foreign markets efficiently.
These include regulatory recognition, distribution arrangements, investor verification, settlement procedures, custody services and access to reliable investment information.
Addressing these requirements would involve coordination among regulators, exchanges, brokers, custodians, financial institutions and financial technology providers to develop arrangements that comply with the rules governing each participating market.
The Dangote refinery offer provides a practical opportunity for these stakeholders to examine the challenges and identify workable solutions within their respective regulatory frameworks.
For participating countries, the initiative also raises broader questions about how domestic savings can be channelled more effectively into productive investments across Africa, particularly in industries requiring substantial long-term capital.
African economies have considerable investment needs in manufacturing, energy, infrastructure and other productive sectors. Strengthening links between domestic capital markets could help broaden the pool of available financing and reduce the extent to which businesses depend exclusively on capital sourced outside the continent.
More effective market connections could also give investors access to a wider range of assets, diversify investment portfolios and strengthen the role of African capital markets in financing regional economic development.
Nevertheless, the success of such initiatives will depend on the ability of participating institutions to translate discussions into practical investment arrangements that address regulatory differences, operational constraints and investor protection requirements.
For NGX Group and its partners, the engagements in Cairo and Addis Ababa represent part of a broader effort to strengthen collaboration among African capital markets and create more efficient channels for investment across the continent.
The group reiterated its commitment to working with partner exchanges and financial institutions to improve market infrastructure, expand cross-border investment access and promote capital formation.
It said sustained cooperation among African capital market institutions would be important to unlocking domestic investment resources, supporting industrial development and advancing the continent’s long-term economic growth.
