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Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking has announced that the second African Market Conference (AMC) will be held in Cape Town from 22 to 24 February 2026. The conference is positioned as a high-level platform to engage African policymakers and global capital providers as the continent’s financing needs, demographic momentum and long-term growth prospects take center stage in global economic discussions.
Building on the first meeting held in 2025, Standard Bank notes that the 2026 meeting will continue efforts to reshape the way international investors understand African markets. The first edition sought to move beyond a narrative of temporary risks by focusing on institutional reforms, economic resilience, and the depth of long-term opportunities across the continent. The next meeting aims to take this further by focusing on how policy priorities can be translated into credible, market-responsive investment frameworks.
Luvuyo Masinda, chief executive officer of corporate and investment banking at Standard Bank Group, said the conference aimed to confront the structural challenges that continue to limit capital mobilization in many African economies. These include relatively shallow domestic capital markets, a fragmented and uneven regulatory regime, and persistent liquidity constraints. As a result, we expect the meeting to focus less on individual deal decisions and more on strengthening the financial architecture needed to support sustainable and scalable investment flows over the long term.
Demographic changes and infrastructure demands form an important context for the discussion. The World Bank and the African Development Bank estimate that Africa needs around US$150 billion a year in infrastructure investment, while current spending is closer to US$75 billion. At the same time, the United Nations predicts that Africa’s population could grow by around one billion people by mid-century as rapid urbanization increases pressure on transport networks, energy systems, housing and digital infrastructure. While these trends pose significant challenges, they also confirm long-term demand dynamics that global investors increasingly seek to understand and engage with rather than discount.
The conference agenda is structured around five main thematic areas. Infrastructure is being positioned as an investable asset class rather than primarily a recipient of concessional financing, with increased focus on public-private partnerships, blended finance and risk-sharing structures. Energy transition discussions are expected to consider Africa’s role in global energy security, including the development of renewable resources, as well as the practical realities of balancing transition pathways with pressing development needs. Capital market development remains a central focus, particularly the mobilization of domestic savings, pension funds and insurance assets alongside international private capital. Intra-African trade and investment flows will also be prominent, reflecting progress under the African Continental Free Trade Area and the ambition to create a more predictable and integrated market environment across the continent.
Participants are expected to include finance ministers, central bank governors and senior infrastructure policy makers from across Africa, as well as global asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, development finance institutions and multilateral organizations involved in de-risking and capital mobilization strategies. Senior Standard Bank executives, including Group CEO Sim Tshabalala, will contribute to technical discussions on market liquidity, capital flows, and alignment of policy and investment incentives.
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Taken together, the African Markets Conference signals broader changes in how African economies are positioned within the global financial debate. Rather than presenting the continent through a single narrative of constraints, the event aims to highlight diversity across regions, policy approaches and market structures, while recognizing the social and development realities underlying economic data. Whether such platforms ultimately lead to sustained capital deployment will depend on follow-through beyond the conference itself, but the gathering underscores the growing recognition that Africa’s growth trajectory is increasingly vital to the global economy.
