Otumfuo Osei Tutu II had been speaking for barely five minutes when he put the question the rest of the day would attempt to answer. The Asantehene looked out at the ballroom and asked why, given everything that had just been claimed for the continent, Africa is still not developed.
It was a striking thing to ask at a summit built to answer it. The Africa Business Investment Summit, convened for the first time by the Millennium Excellence Foundation under his patronage, gathered more than 500 delegates at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on 27 and 28 August. It was designed, in the words of Ghana's Deputy Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Sampson Ahi, as a deal-making arena, one in which discussion must lead to capital, capital to enterprise, and enterprise to jobs.
The organisers arrived with roughly $4 billion of opportunities and set themselves a smaller test: at least $500m in structured commitments, signed as memoranda of understanding and letters of intent before the delegates go home.
Speaking for President John Dramani Mahama, Ahi set the scene for the day's discussions with an update on Ghana's progress. He reported inflation down from 23.8% in December 2024 to 5.4% a year later, and 4.6% by July 2026. GDP grew 6% in 2025, the fastest since 2019, with non-oil growth at 7.6%, the highest in fourteen years. Foreign direct investment reached $2.62bn.
Originally published by African Business.