Africa is done being grateful for raw deals. It is now about who owns the value created from African resources, markets and talent — and whether the next decade flips the script from exporting raw potential to building African firms that control entire value chains and the infrastructure around them. Africa already supplies 69% of the world's cobalt and 76% of its manganese, yet captures less than 1% of the global value from clean-energy manufacturing and refines under 5% of most critical minerals it produces — while UNCTAD warns that of 73 mineral partnerships struck globally, only 27 link developing and developed nations on terms built to move up the value chain, not lock them into extraction. With concrete examples of how mineral-linked revenues, fiscal tools and partnerships can support broader infrastructure ambitions, this high‑level panel reframes how Africa engages on critical minerals and infrastructure financing, focusing on clear frameworks of engagement that turn resource wealth into processing plants, logistics corridors, hospitality assets and conference centres on African balance sheets, not just ore shipped offshore.

Scene setters:

• H.E. Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone

Panelists:

• Mr. Eddy Kioni, CEO & Founder, Buenassa SARL
• Mr. Tidjane Thiam, General Partner, Allied Critical Minerals Fund
• Ms. Veronica Bolton Smith, CEO, The Critical Minerals Africa Group

Moderator: Folly Bah Thibault, Senior News Anchor, Al Jazeera Media Network