Special edition: Turning sustainable energy into a viable asset class in Africa
From This Week in Global Development by Devex | Global Development
May 11, 2026 · 21 min
About this episode
Alain Ebobissé discusses how Africa50 is transforming sustainable energy into a viable asset class in Africa.
In this special episode of This Week in Global Development, Alain Ebobissé, CEO of Africa50 , joins Devex Managing Editor Anna Gawel to discuss a paradigm shift in African infrastructure investment. Africa50, a pan-African investor, is moving beyond one-off projects to aggregate large-scale, “institution-grade” sustainable energy assets. By shifting the narrative from a development imperative to a viable commercial opportunity, Ebobissé explains how his organization is attracting both global and African capital to bridge the continent’s massive energy gap, which currently leaves around 600 million people without basic electricity. A centerpiece of the conversation is the critical role of private sector participation in electricity transmission, an area historically funded exclusively by governments. Ebobissé emphasizes that power generation is futile without the grid capacity to deliver electricity to end users and businesses, highlighting Africa50’s work on the continent's first independent private transmission projects. Looking toward the next decade, he advocates for a balanced energy mix — including renewables and natural gas — and issues a call for a heightened sense of…
People in this episode
Host: Anna Gawel
Guest: Alain Ebobissé
Topics covered
- sustainable energy
- infrastructure investment
- private sector participation
- electricity transmission
- energy gap
- Africa
Keywords
- sustainable energy
- Africa50
- infrastructure
- electricity
- private sector
- energy gap
- investment
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Africa50, Devex
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