The Africa Forward Summit took place in Nairobi on May 11 and 12, 2026, co-hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Kenyan President William Ruto. On the first evening, Macron announced 23 billion euros in investments directed at Africa. Of that total, 14 billion euros come from French public and private actors, including companies, investment funds, AFD, Proparco and the French Treasury. The remaining 9 billion euros are pledged by African investors engaged in projects across the continent.
The choice of Nairobi carries weight that the investment figure alone does not convey. This is the first France-Africa summit held in an English-speaking country. It comes after France’s military withdrawal from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, and after years of declining French market share on the continent, which has fallen from roughly 8% to around 4% over two decades. Holding the summit in East Africa, outside the traditional Francophone orbit, signals an explicit acknowledgment that the old geographic logic no longer holds.
The sectoral breakdown of the announced investments is instructive. Energy transition captures the largest share at 4.3 billion euros. Digital infrastructure and AI follow at 3.76 billion euros. The blue economy receives 3.3 billion euros, with a focus on port infrastructure and maritime logistics. Agriculture is allocated 1 billion euros, health 942 million euros, industrialisation 300 million euros and financial services 250 million euros. These are not grants. They cover a range of instruments: direct investments, equity participations, guarantees, loans and subsidies. The instruments matter as much as the totals.
The most concrete deal announced at the summit came not from a government but from Aliko Dangote. The Nigerian industrialist confirmed he is actively examining the construction of a 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery at the port of Mombasa, estimated at between 15 and 17 billion dollars. He conditioned the final decision on the Kenyan government’s response in terms of fiscal incentives, administrative guarantees and regulatory stability. CMA CGM separately signed an agreement with the Kenya Ports Authority for a 700 million euro modernisation of the Mombasa terminal. The two projects, if both materialise, would position Mombasa as a combined logistics and energy hub on the Indian Ocean.
The structural question the summit raises is whether this represents a genuine shift in the France-Africa relationship or a repackaging of existing dynamics. The announced 23 billion euros are spread across a range of instruments and timelines. Not all engagements at summits of this kind convert into disbursed capital. France’s market share on the continent declined steadily even during earlier summit cycles. And the topics that some African economists have consistently flagged, including monetary reform in the CFA franc zone, were not on the Nairobi agenda.
What is different this time is the explicit framing. Macron acknowledged at the summit that France can no longer anchor its African engagement primarily in aid flows, citing its own budget constraints. The pivot toward private investment and co-investment logic is presented as a strategic choice, but it also reflects a narrowing of available options. African governments attending Nairobi are operating in a competitive environment where the United States, China, Gulf investors and European institutions are all simultaneously making proposals. The question for each of them is which partnerships translate into industrial capacity and revenue on their side of the relationship, not just capital inflows.