Samaila Zubairu, chief executive officer of Africa Finance Corporation, had a pointed message for the room at AFIS 2026 in Luanda this week. Speaking on the panel "Capital Architecture: A New Age for African Finance" alongside the heads of AfDB and Afreximbank, he told financial leaders plainly: digital apps and artificial intelligence cannot formalise Africa's shadow economy on their own.
His argument cuts to something many in the tech ecosystem would rather not sit with. When businesses lack reliable electricity, storage, and transport networks, software becomes decoration. "AI is a threat, but it will not work in isolation," Zubairu said. "It requires other supporting elements, including digital service provision, accessible land titles, effective tax systems, training systems, digital access to government services, and the infrastructure needed to support businesses."
Zubairu pointed to China as a reference point, noting that the country formalised its vast informal sector not through administrative mandates or digital tools alone, but by building the physical infrastructure that brought down the real cost of doing business. The lesson for Africa, in his reading, is that the leapfrog story only holds if the ground beneath it is solid.
It is a tension the continent keeps circling back to. Billions flow toward fintech and agri-platforms while power grids and rail corridors stay underfunded. Whether AFIS 2026 moves that conversation from the plenary stage into actual capital commitments is the question worth watching.
Originally published by TechCabal.