Unlocking Africa’s manufacturing potential

Energy, transport and reforms are strategic priorities for Africa’s industrialisation.
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Date: 17 September 2025
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Time: 11:00 to 12:00 (GMT+2)
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Venue: Online via Zoom
Overview
Africa faces the challenge of premature deindustrialisation, but targeted policy interventions can enable re-industrialisation over the next two decades. This seminar launches key policy recommendations from the African Futures and Innovation programme’s updated Manufacturing theme.
The discussion will present Africa’s current manufacturing landscape, exploring how renewed industrialisation can support structural transformation, job creation, economic growth, government revenue, and improved living standards. This offers a more dynamic alternative to the business-as-usual trajectory.
Read the full report on the state of Africa’s industrialisation.
This event is co-hosted by the ISS and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD).
Moderator: Mahao Mahao, Advisor, Africa Policy Bridge Tank, AUDA-NEPAD
Presenter: Dr Marvellous Ngundu, Senior Researcher Consultant, African Futures & Innovation, ISS
Panelists:
- Freda Yawson, Senior Manager, Infrastructure and Innovation, African Center for Economic Transformation
- Alejandro Lapova, Research and Industrial Policy Officer, Industrial Policy Research and Statistics Unit, United Nations Industrial Development Organization
Image: RAJESH JANTILAL / AFP
Development partners
This seminar is made possible with support from the government of Sweden and the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The ISS is also grateful for support from the members of the ISS Partnership Forum: the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the European Union, the Open Society Foundations and the governments of Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
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