The Enabling Early Stage Infrastructure Investing is an Ecosystem Roundtable focused on the Opportunities, Issues and Constraints affecting Early Stage Investing in Infrastructure in Africa
Organized by
Co-Hosted by
Venue
26th Mar, 2026
Online
Microsoft Teams Webinar
The sizzling
EESII 2.0
How The Event Went!
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EESII-2.0 (Enabling Early Stage Infrastructure Investing), hosted by The African Catalyst in partnership with Brickstone Africa, sponsored by Advocaat Law Practice, and supported by Energy in Africa and the Institute of Construction Industry Arbitrators brought together key stakeholders in Africa’s infrastructure ecosystem — from developers and financiers to policy advisors and enablers. The event addressed the continent’s early-stage project development challenges through expert panel discussions, the DFIP InfraPitch competition, and structured engagements.
By combining thought leadership with practical case studies, EESII-2.0 created a platform to bridge the gap between promising infrastructure ideas and the investment readiness required to secure funding.
Sessions
Jacinda Efemenah
Dolapo Kukoyi – Founder and Lead Advisor, Open Spaces and Bridges (Moderator)
Priyanka Sood Jetwani – Senior Evaluation Officer, World Bank Group
Victoria Obi - Mid-level Associate, Advocaat Law Practice,
Janice Rudo Sambazza - Managing Director, IVHU Advisors
Vanessa Baldwin – CEO & Founder, CATA Energy
Kareen Njounkwe - Project Preparation and Development Professional
Hassan Sheriff - Senior Associate, Advocaat Law Practice
Presenters:
Victory Isiguzo
Edikan Ekanem
Muhammad Saad Umar
Chibuzor Obi
Femi Awofala - Director, The African Catalyst
Adebimpe Adebanjo - Programme Manager, The African Catalyst
Session Highlights
Enabling Early-Stage Infrastructure Investing Recap
The second edition of the Enabling Early-Stage Infrastructure Investing Series (EESII 2.0) brought together investors, developers, legal practitioners, policymakers, and early-stage project sponsors from across Africa and beyond. Over the course of a full-day virtual programme, the event examined the practical mechanics of moving infrastructure projects from concept to bankability — through expert dialogue, a landmark gender lens panel discussion, a sponsor presentation on gas commercialisation, and live project pitches from the eighth cohort of the Developing and Financing Infrastructure Programme (DFIP-8).
Introduction & Welcome Remarks
The programme was opened by host Chisom Osunwa, who welcomed attendees, introduced the event's organising and supporting partners, and outlined the purpose of EESII 2.0. He described the series as a programme dedicated to one of the most underserved stages of infrastructure development in Africa — the early stage — and set out the day's agenda, which would move from expert panel discussion to sponsor presentation to live project pitching.
Welcome Remarks — Femi Awofala, Director, The African Catalyst / CEO, Brickstone Africa
The formal welcome remarks were delivered by Femi Awofala, who opened by contextualising the critical gap that EESII was created to address. He noted that while many conferences and events around the world speak to the infrastructure financing gap and the need for bankable projects, very few focus on what it takes to grow a project from ground zero.
Mr Awofala pointed to the technology sector's success in developing early-stage financing frameworks — Series A rounds, seed capital, and structured support for founders — and argued that infrastructure deserves the same ecosystem. He emphasised that every technology project ultimately requires power, data centres, and connectivity, and that those foundations are built on infrastructure. The EESII roundtable, he explained, exists to build an ecosystem in which developers, investors, and policymakers understand what it takes for a project to progress from early stage through to financial close, construction, and operations.
He closed his remarks by thanking Advocaat Law Practice and the event's supporting partners and handed them back to the host.
Panel Session : Gender Lens Infrapreneurship
GENDER LENS INFRAPRENEUR PANEL SESSION
Why Infrastructure Must Be Viewed Through a Gender Lens
The panel opened with the moderator, Dolapo Kukoyi, referencing an IFC discussion paper titled 'Women in Infrastructure Funds: Opportunity Hiding in Plain Sight,' which highlighted how infrastructure funds stand to benefit materially from greater gender balance in investment decision-making teams. Panellists were asked to make the case for the gender lens from their own vantage points.
Priyanka Sood Jetwani (World Bank Group) noted that infrastructure is fundamentally about access — but that access is not experienced equally. Safety, affordability, reliability, and time-use all determine whether women actually engage with infrastructure services, and these considerations must be built into project design from the earliest stage.
Vanessa Baldwin (CATA Energy) reframed the conversation emphatically, arguing that gender lens investing is not a feminist ideology but a strategic economic necessity. She cited a projected 97 trillion dollar global infrastructure gap by 2040, and noted that closing gender gaps in economic participation could add up to 28 trillion dollars to global GDP.
Dolapo Kukoyi affirmed this framing, noting that with an infrastructure gap of this scale, all hands must be on deck — and that the more inclusive the approach, the better the outcomes.
From Beneficiaries to Infrapreneurs — Reframing Women's Role
Kareen Zoundja Njounkwe emphasised that reframing women's role in infrastructure from beneficiaries to infrapreneurs is necessary but insufficient unless the systemic changes follow. She gave the example of well-constructed roads failing to unlock trade for women cross-border traders, because the soft infrastructure — customs, access, and compliance requirements — was never designed with them in mind. She stressed that women need reformed access to capital and that procurement systems must be updated to open hard infrastructure opportunities to women-led enterprises.
Janice Rudo Sambaza (IVHU Advisors) added that when women are included as infrapreneurs from the origination stage, capital begins to flow differently. Procurement opportunities shift, supply chains become more inclusive, and projects are ideated in ways that genuinely benefit communities. The reframing, she argued, encourages economic participation rather than reactive consumption.
Mentorship, Capacity Building & the Confidence Gap
Victoria Obi (Advocaat Law Practice) observed that most existing mentorship programmes are inspirational rather than transactional. The gap she identified is not in inspiration, but in access to the room — to actual deal cycles, from feasibility through financial close to project execution. She argued that mentorship initiatives need to move women closer to decision-making tables, not just closer to knowledge on paper.
Vanessa Baldwin highlighted a deeper systemic barrier: the social structures in many African communities position women in supportive, not leadership, roles. She argued that women's contributions — including household resource allocation, risk mitigation, and budget management — are functionally equivalent to the skills required in infrastructure but are not recognised or compensated as such. The result is a talent pool that is artificially shrunk by at least 50%.
Concrete Actions for the Next 12 Months
In the session's closing round, each panellist was asked to name one concrete action institutions could take within the next 12 months to advance gender-led infrastructure development.
- Vanessa Baldwin — Establish accelerator programmes and home-grown solutions to bring more women into the infrapreneur space, and to ensure infrastructure design is gender-responsive.
- Kareen Zoundja Njounkwe — Audit project preparation facilities to identify where women drop off in the pipeline; use data to quantify women's contributions to soft infrastructure; and support DFIs in developing targeted policies.
- Janice Rudo Sambaza — Highlighted encouraging signs: DFIs are beginning to ask gender metrics questions in due diligence. She called for private developers to be deliberate in employing more women analysts and ensuring at least 30% female representation in boardrooms.
- Victoria Obi — Urged that gender inclusion policies not merely be written, but made enforceable and long-term, with clear incentive structures for women-led projects and gender-inclusive financing mechanisms.
- Priyanka Sood Jetwani — Called for DFIs and governments to establish ecosystems that support women-led businesses from the earliest stage, particularly where those businesses lack track records. She outlined a three-lens approach: design, contracts, and procurement — each of which should embed gender considerations.
The Q&A session surfaced rich audience engagement on topics ranging from how a young engineering student could pursue a community power project to how women operating in the solar home systems and mini-grid space can scale to utility-scale IPPs. The panel's consistent message was: it is possible, it requires the right team and the right network, and collaboration is the way forward.
A final discussion on the use of AI in infrastructure rounded out the session, with panellists noting AI's growing role in data analysis, financial risk modelling, grid management, regulatory compliance monitoring, and smart border technology.
Special Presentation by Advocaat Law Practice
GUIDANCE AT THE EARLY STAGE: DEVELOPING GAS COMMERCIALISATION PROJECT IN NIGERIA
Advocaat Law Practice, the headline sponsor of EESII 2.0, delivered a practical presentation on the legal and commercial considerations involved in developing gas commercialisation projects in Nigeria. Hassan Sheriff walked attendees through the full arc of early-stage gas project development, from identifying a gas source to navigating the regulatory landscape and structuring for bankability.
The Nigerian Gas Context
Hassan opened by contextualising why gas commercialisation sits at the heart of Nigeria's energy agenda. Nigeria holds over 200 TCF of proven and unproven gas reserves. Despite this, significant volumes are still flared annually — representing both an economic loss and an environmental challenge. The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) has introduced greater structural clarity, with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) now providing distinct regulatory frameworks for different parts of the value chain.
Five Early-Stage Considerations
Hassan outlined five foundational considerations that every developer must work through before a gas project can become bankable:
- Identify the gas source. Gas commercialisation begins with molecules, not infrastructure. Developers must confirm that gas is physically available, not committed elsewhere, contractually accessible, and appropriately priced. A critical insight: a project cannot commercialise gas it does not control.
- Identify a viable off-taker. Gas has no intrinsic value without a buyer. The key question is not demand volume but offtaker creditworthiness. In Nigeria, especially, the ability to pay matters more than stated demand. Revenue certainty must precede any infrastructure decision.
- Define the commercial model. The model — whether power generation, industrial supply, LNG, mini-LNG, LPG, or CNG distribution — depends on distance to market, available infrastructure, pricing, and scale of demand.
- Conduct a preliminary feasibility. Feasibility only makes sense after supply exists and demand is identified. At this stage, developers test project economics, tariff structures, and CapEx requirements.
- Structure the project commercially. Risk must be allocated to the parties best placed to absorb it: gas suppliers, the project company, lenders, offtakers, and the government. The key instruments are the Gas Supply Agreement, Gas Sales Agreement, and Transport Agreement. Structure translates feasibility into bankability.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Hassan was emphatic on several common developer mistakes. He warned against treating an expression of interest or a Memorandum of Understanding as equivalent to an enforceable contract, noting that many projects fail at precisely this point. He cautioned against overly optimistic feasibility assumptions, arguing that conservative projections attract capital while optimism repels it. And he reinforced the fundamental principle that infrastructure should follow demand — not the reverse. Developers who build pipelines and then look for customers are, in his words, putting the cart before the horse.
In the Q&A, an attendee asked why Gas Sale and Purchase Agreements (GSPAs) are difficult to achieve. Hassan explained that lenders require contracted off-take as a precondition for financing — proof of future cash flow. The difficulty lies in convincing an offtaker to commit to taking a volume of gas before the project is built. Once a GSPA is in place, it signals project viability and provides the cash flow assurance that makes debt financing possible.
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InfraPitch Session
INFRAPITCH SESSION – DFIP 08 PROJECT PRESENTATIONS
The InfraPitch session is the cornerstone of the EESII series — the moment where early-stage infrastructure projects, developed over six intensive weeks by participants of the Developing and Financing Infrastructure Programme, are presented live to a panel of expert jurors for structured feedback and evaluation.
Jury Panel: Taiwo Olatunji, Group Head Investment Banking, Coronation Merchant Bank | Shaheed Ali, Director and Global Head of Project Preparation, Development Bank of Southern Africa | Uchenna Mkparu, Chief Investment Officer, United Capital Infrastructure Fund
Four groups from DFIP Cohort 8 presented projects spanning digital infrastructure, road transport, water security, and hydropower. Each group had 15 minutes to present, followed by jury feedback.
EESII Replay - InfraPitch Session - Group A
Atlantic Link West Africa Submarine Fiber Cable Project
Project Overview
Victory Isiguzo presented the Atlantic Link West Africa Submarine Fibre Cable Project, a digital infrastructure initiative designed to address what the World Bank estimates to be approximately 40% internet penetration across Africa. The project proposed branching an existing transoceanic cable — currently connecting Europe and Brazil, with landing points in Mauritania and Cape Verde — to serve five West African countries currently underserved by digital connectivity. The project would involve approximately 7,000 kilometres of new submarine cable with four fibre pairs, estimated at a total cost of $1.5 billion. The project aligned with the African Union's digital agenda and ECOWAS connectivity frameworks.
Jury Feedback
Shaheed Ali acknowledged the quality of the presentation and the team's identification of key project finance elements. He urged the presenters to go deeper on market analysis — particularly the distinction between the wholesale cable market, the landing station market, and the consumer market — and to ensure revenue-based diversity. He drew on his institution's own experience financing an undersea cable, noting that a detailed understanding of the market layers is essential to a credible financial model.
Taiwo Olatunji flagged a structural concern: the grouping of equity investors and project sponsors under one category. He advised that for transactions of this nature, there should be one or two clear project sponsors driving the initiative, with other equity investors in supporting roles. He also noted that the Atlantic Link is an existing infrastructure asset and that engagement with the existing company operating it would likely be necessary.
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EESII Replay - InfraPitch Session - Group B
The Lome-Lagos Corridor Highway (LLCH) Project
Project Overview
Edikan Ekanem presented a road infrastructure project targeting the chronic logistics and transportation challenge along West Africa's coastal economic corridor. The project proposed developing Lot 3 of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway — a 344-kilometre, six-lane dual carriageway spanning Nigeria, Benin, and Togo — which accounts for approximately 33% of total traffic in the wider corridor. The project would be implemented as a public-private partnership, aligned with the ECOWAS Regional Trade Policy. The capital structure comprised 5% seed equity, 25% core equity, 10% mezzanine financing, and 60% senior debt, totalling a project cost of $3.36 billion. The group was seeking $5 million in seed equity to commission technical feasibility and traffic demand studies.
Jury Feedback
Shaheed Ali raised the complexity of implementing a PPP across three sovereign jurisdictions and asked the presenters to clarify whether the project was a true PPP (with government-guaranteed unitary payments) or a pure project finance tolled structure (where the developer takes traffic risk). He also raised the concept of termination compensation, pointing out that if one of the three countries decided to exit the arrangement, a mechanism for handling partial project completion and debt protection must be clearly defined.
Taiwo Olatunji noted that traffic volume risk had been allocated to the SPV, but that in typical PPP transactions, this risk is borne by the government. He pressed the team on viability gap funding — how the three governments would share exposure if toll revenues fell short — and questioned the inclusion of specific material suppliers in the transaction structure, arguing that in a turnkey EPC model, the contractor is responsible for procuring all inputs.
Uchenna Mkparu delivered particularly detailed feedback, identifying three areas for significant strengthening. First, he urged the team to lead with the economic and commercial case — the road's brownfield status and existing traffic counts represent evidence of suppressed demand that should be front-and-centre in any investor pitch. Second, he highlighted the cross-border completion challenge, noting that if different countries implemented at different speeds, the project's financial projections could be materially affected, and this risk must be explicitly allocated. Third, he advised the team to disaggregate their risk assessment into granular sub-categories — partial completion risk, traffic ramp-up risk, and multi-jurisdiction tariff risk — rather than presenting it at a high level. He also cautioned against asking for $5 million without clearly describing the pathway from seed funding to financial close, emphasising that investors need a clear exit mechanism.
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EESII Replay - InfraPitch Session - Group C
Lesotho–Botswana Water Transfer Project
Project Overview
Muhammad Saad Umar presented a transboundary water infrastructure project addressing a severe and growing water deficit across three Southern African nations. The project proposed a 124-metre concrete arch dam on the Makhaleng River in Lesotho, combined with a 700-kilometre pipeline delivering water to Botswana (150 million cubic metres per year), Lesotho (97 million cubic metres), and South Africa (63 million cubic metres). In the long run, the project would integrate a 35–45 MW hydropower component to reduce Lesotho's significant electricity import dependency. The project is a designated priority under the NEPAD Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) and already has an existing Memorandum of Agreement from 2013 between the three sovereign states. Total project CapEx was estimated at $2.5 billion, with a preparation funding gap of $3.2 million.
Jury Feedback
Shaheed Ali commended the presentation and the quality of the financial ratios. However, he asked the team to clarify the project's primary identity — water or power — noting that the hydropower component, while significant, appeared to sit somewhat awkwardly alongside the water transfer focus. More critically, he asked the team to interrogate the project's 100% dependence on government off-take: under a take-or-pay structure, all risk effectively sits with the sovereign parties, and the team needed to assess whether the governments of Botswana, Lesotho, and South Africa could genuinely afford the implied financial obligations.
Muhammad Saad Umar responded by clarifying that the project is primarily a water project, with hydropower intended as a long-run enhancement rather than a core commercial stream. He acknowledged the government dependency and noted that PPP arrangements with utility management operators would be pursued before final deal structures are signed.
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EESII Replay - InfraPitch Session - Group D
Luapula Hydropower Project
Project Overview
Chibuzor Happiness Obi presented the Luapula Hydropower Project, a 789 MW cross-border hydropower development on the Luapula River, spanning the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. The project was designed to address severe energy deficits constraining economic growth in both countries, including over 12 hours of daily load shedding in Zambia and an electrification rate of just 19% in the DRC. The project would deliver clean energy to mining operations, regional utilities, and the South African Power Pool. The capital structure comprised $504 million in equity and $1.176 billion in senior debt, at a total CapEx of $1.68 billion. Off-take would be secured through 20-25 year PPAs with ZESCO and SNEL (80% capacity) and the Copperbelt Energy Corporation (20%), with surplus capacity sold on the SAPP spot market.
The project's financial model projected a 12.54% project IRR, a 37.09% return on equity, and a DSCR of 2.98 — well above the 1.5x typically required by DFI lenders. The $3 million seed equity request would fund hydrological and climate assessments, feasibility and preliminary engineering, environmental and social impact assessments, legal structuring, and financial advisory.
Jury Feedback
Shaheed Ali praised the depth of the presentation and noted that the key elements of project finance structuring were identifiable. He raised two substantive concerns. First, climate risk: traditional hydrological forecasting based on historical weather data is no longer reliable in the current climate change environment, and the team must demonstrate how they would address this when presenting to commercial lenders and DFIs. Second, he reiterated the government off-take concentration risk — with approximately 80% of revenue dependent on sovereign entities, the team needs to demonstrate that the governments of Zambia and the DRC can absorb these obligations, and that dollar availability and transferability have been specifically modelled.
Chibuzor Happiness Obi acknowledged the feedback and thanked the jury.
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Special Comment --Director, The African Catalyst
Following the InfraPitch session, Femi Awofala returned to the virtual floor to share reflections on what the cohort had achieved and to set out The African Catalyst's vision for the programme's future.
He acknowledged the significant effort that goes into infrastructure project development, emphasising that even at the early stage — which EESII is specifically designed to address — the rigour required is substantial. He expressed his appreciation to the jury members — Shaheed Ali, Taiwo Olatunji, and Uchenna Mkparu — for the quality of their feedback, and to the DFIP-8 participants for the depth of work they had produced over six weeks of intensive preparation.
Mr Awofala announced the programme's ambition to begin incorporating live, real-world infrastructure projects into future InfraPitch sessions — not only student capstone projects — and invited developers and project sponsors in the ecosystem to submit projects for consideration. He noted that many practitioners working within institutional infrastructure funds have projects that are not yet at the stage required for formal investor presentation, and that EESII represents a platform to help bridge that gap.
He concluded by thanking the African Catalyst team for their work behind the scenes over the days and nights leading up to the event.
Closing Remarks
The closing remarks were delivered by Adebimpe Adebanjo, Programme Manager at The African Catalyst, who thanked all speakers, jury members, sponsors, and participants for their contributions to a meaningful and forward-looking day of conversations.
She reflected on the day's central theme: that unlocking infrastructure investment in Africa requires deeper collaboration, stronger project preparation, and international support at the earliest stage of the project lifecycle. She reaffirmed The African Catalyst's commitment to building platforms like EESII that move beyond conversation into tangible outcomes.
Adebimpe invited attendees to connect with The African Catalyst via LinkedIn and email (support@theafricancatalyst.com) and announced that the next edition — EESII 3.0 — is scheduled for 24 July 2026.
Host Chisom Osunwa then delivered a final sign-off, drawing together the threads of the day's programme: He thanked all speakers, panellists, jury members, DFIP-8 participants, sponsors, and supporters, and invited the audience to continue the conversation at EESII 3.0.