The World Bank Group on Wednesday announced the launch of the next phase of its Private Sector Investment Lab, focused on implementing proven solutions at scale.
The bank also announced the inclusion of billionaire businessman and industrialist, Aliko Dangote, into the investment lab.
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Mr Dangote owns the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the largest oil refinery in Africa, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day (BPD). Located in Lekki, Nigeria, the refinery aims to meet Nigeria’s demand for refined products and potentially export surplus across the continent and beyond.
The world bank said the new chapter also expands the Lab’s membership to include industry leaders with experience generating jobs in developing economies, aligning directly with the bank’s sharpened focus on job creation as a core driver of development.
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“With the expanded membership, we are mainstreaming this work across our operations and tying it directly to the jobs agenda that is driving our strategy,” said World Bank Group President Ajay Banga.
“This isn’t about altruism—it’s about helping the private sector see a path to investments that will deliver returns, and lift people and economies alike. It’s central to our mandate.”
Over the last 18 months, the Lab brought together leaders from global financial institutions to identify the most pressing barriers to private sector investment in developing countries—and to test actionable solutions.
The bank said the work has now been consolidated into five priority focus areas that are being integrated across Bank Group operations, namely, regulatory and policy certainty, which supports governments in creating stable regulatory frameworks; political risk insurance, streamlined guarantee instruments that led to a 30% increase in issuance compared to last year; and foreign exchange risk, which involves scaling local currency financing to deepen domestic capital markets.
The bank said it also involves junior equity capital, and launched the Frontier Opportunities Fund to absorb early-stage risk. Initially capitalized with IFC income, the fund will grow with donor and philanthropic contributions; and securitization, which involves unlocking capital from pension funds, insurers, and sovereign wealth funds.
As the Lab enters its implementation phase, it is also expanding its membership to include private sector leaders in sectors critical to job creation—such as infrastructure and energy, agribusiness, healthcare, tourism, and manufacturing. These industries have a proven ability to translate investment into broad-based employment and economic opportunity.
Apart from Aliko Dangote, President & CEO, Dangote Group, the new members of the Lab include Bill Anderson, CEO, Bayer AG; Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chair, Bharti Enterprises; and Mark Hoplamazian, President & CEO, Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
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“We are grateful to the original Lab leaders who helped us deliver strong results in the initial work period,” Mr Banga said.
“Now we’re building on that foundation—bringing in additional leaders from sectors that are central to job creation and moving from ideas to implementation.”
The Lab’s founding members included senior executives from AXA, BlackRock, HSBC, Macquarie, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Ninety One, Ping An Group, Royal Philips, Standard Bank, Standard Chartered, Sustainable Energy for All, Tata Sons, Temasek, and Three Cairns Group. The Lab is chaired by Shriti Vadera, Chair of Prudential plc.
