With an energy finance gap estimated between $30 billion and $50 billion per year, Africa is pursuing diversified sources of financing to address this shortfall and advance strategic projects. Aligned with goals by the continent to make energy poverty history, the African Energy Chamber’s (AEC) upcoming G20 Africa Energy Investment Forum seeks to close this gap by connecting global capital to African projects. Samira Mensah, Managing Director, Regional Head Africa & Country Head South Africa, S&P Global Ratings, is speaking at the forum, where she is expected to share insight into investment trends, credit ratings and strategies for securing capital in an ever-changing global context.
While Africa’s energy potential is well-known – with over 125 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, 620 trillion cubic feet of proven gas and abundant renewable energy potential – high borrowing costs, perceived credit risks and limited access to long-term financing remain an impediment to project development. In tandem, global pressures to advance the energy transition has seen funding for oil and gas projects significantly fall, delaying African projects and impacting efforts to enhance energy security across the continent. Within this scenario, organizations such as S&P Global Ratings plays a crucial role, shaping market confidence and supporting capital access through transparent risk evaluation. The organization’s research has consistently highlighted the importance of developing robust domestic capital markets, enhancing sovereign creditworthiness and leveraging blended finance and guarantees to reduce the cost of borrowing for African issuers.
While perceived credit risk continues to impact projects in Africa, recent trends have seen a continental push toward closing Africa’s energy financing gap. The $5 billion Africa Energy Bank – spearheaded by the African Petroleum Producers Organization and Afreximbank – is making rapid gains in raising funds, offering an alternative, home-grown solution to raising capital. Development finance is gaining traction, evidenced by the U.S.-Export-Import Bank re-approving a loan of up to $4.7 billion to support the development of the TotalEnergies-led Mozambique LNG project. The African Development Bank also reached a record of $11 billion in new investments approved in Africa between 2024 and 2025. International energy companies are ramping-up their spending. Eni is investing $8 billion in Algeria, backed by a deal signed with Sonatrach, while ExxonMobil could invest as much as $15 billion in Angola’s Namibe basin following successful drilling. African M&A transactions also saw a significant increase, totaling $2.7 billion in H1, 2025 alone.
The upcoming G20 Africa Energy Investment Forum builds on this momentum by offering insight into Africa’s energy opportunities. The forum follows the African Energy Week 2025 conference, where a Premier Invest-led Deal Room identified up to $13.4 billion project opportunities across the upstream, midstream, downstream and renewable energy segments. By connecting global financiers with African stakeholders, the G20 Forum aims to drive projects forward while addressing challenges such as perceived risk and market uncertainty. Mensah’s participation will bring technical depth to discussions on how sovereign and corporate ratings can catalyze investment in Africa’s oil, gas and power sectors, particularly as countries pursue both expansion and transition agendas.
“Closing Africa’s energy investment gap is not only about mobilizing capital, it is about changing perceptions, improving credit risk assessments and creating confidence in African markets. Institutions like S&P Global Ratings play a vital role in helping investors see the full picture: that Africa is not a risk to be avoided, but an opportunity to be embraced,” states NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, AEC.
Africa Fact: Gedi, near the coast of Kenya, is one of the East African ghost towns. Its ruins, dating from the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries, include the city walls, the palace, private houses, the Great Mosque, seven smaller mosques, and three pillar tombs.
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Vusi Thembekwayo – CEO of Motiv8, and Founder of The Inspiration Project, My Growth Fund and Iconoclast: At 25, Vusi Thembekwayo served on the operations board of Metcash Africa. He was tasked with launching a new division, which he built into a R461 million turnover business. He then left to launch his own business in 2013, Motiv8 his own consulting business, which he bootstrapped with speaking engagements. \”In my experience, the only way to succeed is to invest time in your own development and have \”skin in the game.\’ Time enables you to build technical ability and establishes your credibility in the market,\” says Thembekwayo. He went on to become one of the \”dragons\’ on the South African edition of Dragons\’ Den, where he was responsible for allocation over R10 million worth of investment, as well as one of the \”sharks\’ on M-Net\’s Shark Tank. In 2011, he co-founded Watermark Capital Partners, a private equity firm. In 2013, he was appointed non-executive director at RBA Holdings Ltd. In 2014, he founded The Inspiration Project, a tech enabled narrative lab reshaping the story of Africa, qualified to join the National Speakers Association of New York, and founded My Growth Fund, a fund to support business people as they start, build and grow their businesses. In 2015, he founded Iconoclast, a boutique specialist public speaker representation management agency.