Experts push for stronger digital infrastructure investment across Africa

By Dickson Omobola

Ghanaian-owned conglomerate, KGL Group, has urged African leaders to champion an investor-friendly ecosystem to attract more businesses, saying there is a need to redirect significant portions of their investment portfolios into digital innovation and infrastructure.

Executive Chairman of KGL Group, Alex Daddey, said the business environment in Africa must be made more attractive for investment in African digital infrastructure, rather than encouraging the export of African capital.

Daddey spoke at the Continental Summit of the Forward Africa Leaders Symposium recently held in Kigali, Rwanda.

According to him, these steps would be the most realistic way to deliver scalable returns, cross-border relevance, long-term value creation, and economic resilience for Africa.

He said: “There must therefore be alignment between government policy, private sector leadership, and financial institution support. We must make it more attractive to invest in African digital infrastructure than export African capital.”

He also pointed out how this alignment is already playing out in the operations of KGL Group, where the company recognises that African companies must not only participate in markets but also actively shape them.

In view of this, KGL Group has developed digital solutions, created innovative ecosystems, and modernised public revenue systems through its subsidiaries, KGL Technology Ltd and Keed Ghana Ltd, while also providing funding to startups and SMEs, and engaging in mergers and acquisitions through its financial subsidiary, KGL Capital Ltd.

Also, the Executive Director of the Forward Africa Leaders Symposium, Hannah Awuku, said the 2026 Forward Africa Leaders Symposium was convened at a time when Africa faces both unprecedented opportunity and increasing urgency.

According to her, artificial intelligence (AI), digital finance, sovereign data systems, digital public infrastructure, and advanced technologies are rapidly redefining global competitiveness.

She said: “Africa must not simply participate in this transition; Africa must shape it.”

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of the APRM Continental Secretariat, Marie-Antoinette Quatre, said it was in recognition of this that APRM made e-governance a priority issue for the continent.

Through the establishment of frameworks, peer learning platforms, and comprehensive technical and institutional capacity-building programmes, she said, the organisation strives to enable participating states to champion development in the era of artificial intelligence.

She said: “Africa must think beyond digital inclusion to digital ownership of the technology we depend on. This includes ownership of our data, ownership of the digital infrastructure that powers our economies, ownership of our innovation ecosystems, and ownership of the policies and governance systems that will power the next wave of economic growth.

According to her, in the era of artificial intelligence, prosperity will go to nations that control technology, innovate.and build strong institutions to govern it.

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