Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Oliver Alawuba, has called for greater focus on turning Africa’s vast opportunities into investable projects.
Alawuba spoke in New York, at the Forward Africa Leaders Symposium, held during the ongoing United Nations General Assembly engagements (UNGA), where he participated in a fireside chat themed “From Mandate to Impact.”
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Speaking on the need to translate Africa’s development ambitions into tangible outcomes, the UBA boss said Africa’s opportunities deserve rigorous preparation and serious capital, noting that projects must be commercially sustainable and supported by institutions capable of delivering on their commitments.
He also emphasised the need for dependable revenues, credible institutions and accountable delivery to unlock sustainable capital for the continent.
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Drawing from UBA’s experience across the continent, Alawuba highlighted the bank’s role in connecting African enterprise with capital, expertise and financial infrastructure, citing projects across telecommunications, energy, roads, digital services and other critical sectors.
In Chad, for instance, he explained that UBA financed a US$6.56 million telecommunications modernisation project initiated in 2021, with completion recorded in 2025 and the loan fully repaid. For Alawuba, the project demonstrates how a clearly defined development need can move from financing to completion and repayment when the right structure and accountability are in place.
According to Alawuba, UBA has consistently remained instrumental in propelling Africa’s growth aa is further evidenced in a US$45 million loan facility to Oak Asset SPV for road construction in Kenya, where the bank’s relationships extend beyond project financing to government collections and contractor facilities, creating banking support around the broader delivery chain.
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Beyond physical infrastructure, he highlighted the role of digital finance in expanding opportunities across African markets, pointing to Leo, UBA’s digital banking platform, which now serves more than six million users across 20 African countries and processes over 16 million transactions annually.
Highlighting Leo’s support for English, French, Portuguese and Swahili, he noted that UBA continues to take the lead with innovation demonstrating, how digital services can help bridge language and market barriers, while its payment capabilities support everyday banking and cross-border commerce.
He also pointed to UBA’s financing activities across markets including Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Tanzania and Liberia as examples of the different ways commercial banking can support African development, ranging from direct lending and syndicated financing to guarantees, contractor facilities and banking services supporting project operations.
Alawuba noted that, these experiences reinforce the importance of African financial institutions being close enough to understand local markets while maintaining the international connections required to mobilise capital and support cross-border investment, saying, “At UBA, Africa’s Global Bank, we bring the conviction that African enterprise belongs at the centre of Africa’s transformation, supported by strong institutions and productive global partnerships.”
While concluding, he urged stakeholders to focus the next phase of Africa’s development efforts on preparing and de-risking a selected pipeline of viable projects, while ensuring that execution capability is built into each investment and, also called for priority to be given to completing viable investments already under way while preparing the next generation of bankable projects in areas such as dependable power, digital connectivity and logistics.
United Bank for Africa is one of Africa’s largest financial institutions, serving over 45 million customers globally. Operating in 20 African countries, as well as the United Kingdom, the United States, France and the United Arab Emirates, UBA provides retail, commercial and institutional banking services while championing financial inclusion, innovation and sustainable development across its markets.
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