As 2025 draws to a close, a new wave of confidence is washing over global boardrooms, marking a decisive shift from the cautious outlook that characterized much of this year.
According to McKinsey’s latest global economic survey, executives surveyed are ending the year with renewed confidence in both the macroeconomic environment and their companies’ performance.
The McKinsey report found that while trade policy changes were previously seen as the main risk to growth, geopolitical instability and conflict are now in the spotlight.
Despite these concerns, the report found that there is strong momentum, with leaders prioritizing investments in customer engagement and technology over broader macroeconomic concerns.
This optimism is reflected in profit forecasts, the report claims. The proportion of respondents expecting demand to increase is the lowest since 2020, but the proportion expecting demand to improve rather than decline is still more than twice as likely.
According to the African Development Bank Group, Africa is telling a story of “resilience built on hard-won gains.”
The central bank expected 21 African countries to grow at least 5% this year, although the continent’s 2025 growth forecast was revised down slightly to 3.9% due to drastic changes in global trade and aid cuts. The report highlights the necessary paradigm shift, saying: “If Africa invests in itself, leverages its strengths and manages its resources wisely, there are limitless possibilities to wean itself from external dependence.”
Its Africa Economic Outlook 2025 highlights the extraordinary potential for domestic resource mobilization and suggests that deep reforms could free up an additional $1.43 trillion annually in financial, natural and human capital. This figure exceeds the annual funding gap of $1.3 trillion needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
The report argued that improving the functioning of African capital is a “governance and leadership imperative.”
At the same time, the World Economic Forum’s Future of Employment Report 2025 highlighted a period of intense transformation in the labor market.
In sub-Saharan Africa, 64% of companies cited increased focus on labor and social issues as key trends through 2030, followed closely by rising costs of living and expanding digital access. However, the report shows that significant barriers remain, with many regional businesses citing widespread skills gaps and lack of investment capital as key obstacles to transformation.
The report notes that specialized roles in AI, big data and cybersecurity are among the fastest growing skills needed globally, but the African Development Bank warned that a skills mismatch persists as education systems fail to keep up with market needs.
In response, organizations such as AVANA, the African Business Schools Center of Excellence, are working to close these gaps.
During the pivotal period of 2024-2025, AVANA carried out projects focused on value-driven management and digital transformation of agricultural products systems, with the aim of translating research into “an executable framework to support systems transformation”.
