Despite complex global challenges – US tariffs at their highest levels in over a century, continuing conflict in the Middle East disrupting energy flows and shipping routes and with the multilateral trading system taking a strain – Africa is set for growth.
Bullish about the continent’s economic prospects, Bill Blackie, Standard Bank Group CE: Business; Commercial Banking, on Thursday told delegates attending the Standard Bank Africa Unlocked 2026 conference that the continent was this year expected to grow at about 4%, with intra-African trade increased by more than 12% in 2025.
Blackie said pension assets in Africa have now exceeded $1 trillion.
More than 140 business leaders, policymakers, investors and entrepreneurs from across Africa and key global markets, have gathered in Cape Town for conference to explore the practical actions required to accelerate trade, investment and sustainable economic growth across the continent.
Hosted by Standard Bank Business and Commercial Banking under the theme Built in Africa: Amplifying Continental Growth, the two-day gathering ending on Friday, is focusing on the growing role of African businesses, capital and innovation in shaping the continent’s next phase of development.
Now in its third edition, Africa Unlocked has evolved alongside Africa’s economic journey.
Blackie said he was encouraged by business banking clients trading more with each other across the continent than with any single external partner - more than with China, the United States or the European Union.
“Their most important trade partner is each other – “a shift which matters and reflecting something structural rather than cyclical”.
Quoting figures by African Trade Report, Blackie said intra-African trade reached about $220 billion last year, with 47 countries now part of the AfCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area) – “the largest free trade area by number of participants anywhere in the world”.
He said: “Added to that, the continent’s infrastructure pipeline has never been deeper and its energy transition ambitions have never been more commercially grounded.
“But, the most compelling evidence lies in the businesses themselves and the support we can provide to help them amplify their growth.
“Two years ago, at this conference, Adrian Basson from Hungry Lion spoke about an ambition to open 100 stores a year across Africa.
“Today, that ambition has turned into reality.
“Hungry Lion has already opened more than 500 stores across nine countries, employing 10 000 people and is now on track to open 250 stores this year, which would take them to 750 stores by year-end.
“It is a clear example of what determined execution looks like when an African business is built for African consumers and decides to scale at pace on this continent.
“Recently, Helmut Engelbrecht, our regional CE for West Africa, visited the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos – by all accounts, a world class facility.
“Projects of that scale are never just a single business - they are ecosystems of hundreds of suppliers, contractors and logistics operators.”
In business banking, Blackie said Standard Bank believed that growth was amplified in business ecosystems.
“When we understand the networks around a client and support them across relationships, platforms and structures, we help value move across borders, sectors and stages of growth.
“That is what allows us to stay with a client through their whole journey — from the first working capital facility to crossborder expansion and access to global pools of capital.
“Our team in Nigeria has supported 300 businesses in the Dangote value chain with the solutions needed to deliver and sustain the operations of this world class facility.
“It is a practical example of how ecosystem capability changes what is possible for our clients and for the economies we serve.
“International trade remains one of the most powerful engines of Africa’s economic prosperity.
“African businesses are renegotiating the terms of their engagement with China,
India and the Gulf - moving from raw material exporters to value-added partners.
“What matters, though, is not only the currency mechanism itself. It is what that access makes possible,” said Blackie.
Concurring with Blackie, Lungisa Fuzile, Standard Bank’s CEO for Africa Regions Offshore, said the gathering gave Africa “a moment to pause, reflect and focus on what truly matters”.
“It is about how we help African entrepreneurs build momentum, scale with confidence and turn complexity into possibility,” he said.
Themes shaping Africa’s future: job creation, energy, infrastructure development and governance, remained critical.
“But what is different now - and what should give us real confidence - is that we are
seeing tangible progress: infrastructure projects completed and commissioned;
governance frameworks strengthened and Africans taking charge of their destiny.
“Gathered here today are African entrepreneurs who have built successful and
impactful businesses against the odds - with belief in their ideas, discipline in their work and resilience.
“You remind us that Africa’s greatest resource is not only its natural resources but its talented people.
“Talent that rises despite the noise, courage that stands firm in the face of uncertainty and hope that returns with every new dawn.
“When the road has been hard, we have drawn strength from those who camebefore us - from the victories, sacrifices and stubborn faith of our forebears across this continent,” said Fuzile.
He said bankers’ role was “not to create but to amplify”.
“Like literal electronic amplifiers, our job is to pick up the signal of entrepreneurial talent and to make it strong.
“Our purpose is to provide the skills, connections and capital that enable you to enlarge your real economy impacts.
“Bill has spoken to stories of entrepreneurs who have seized the moment, believed in their ability to solve for customer needs, have succeeded and grown to contribute to the growth of the continent.
“Standard Bank is very proud to be part of these stories.
“As Africa’s largest bank by assets, we are deeply embedded in the financial systems of the countries in which we operate.
“Our role is to help unlock growth by providing capital, connecting trade partners enabling cross-border flows, supporting infrastructure and giving entrepreneurs the financial tools to scale with confidence.
“We are not spectators in Africa’s growth story.
“We are builders, connectors and amplifiers – partnering businesses that are turning African ambition into African enterprise,” he added.