Radar | Nov 27,2023
Nov 27 , 2025
Italy is making a bold play for influence and growth on the African continent, putting 5.5 billion dollars on the table to anchor the ambitious “Mattei Plan,” an investment and development initiatives that officials describe as the most concerted Italian drive into Africa in recent history.
According to Italian development officials, who are attending an African investment forum this week, a fundamental belief in private sector dynamism, risk-sharing financial tools, and multilateral partnerships will be the levers to unlock Africa’s economic potential and secure a foothold for Italian companies in critical sectors.
The eighth edition of the investment forum, a flagship annual market for capital mobilisation by the African Development Bank (AfDB), was opened yesterday, November 26, 2025, in Rabat, Morocco. Scheduled to close tomorrow, Finance Minister Ahmed Shedie leads an Ethiopian team, mainly promoting the new airport planned in Bishofu, projected to cost eight billion dollars. The AfDB plays a facilitator role for investment mobilisation, 70pc of which is hoped to come from foreign financing.
The continent’s senior government officials, development bankers, and industry leaders joined international partners in Rabat this week pressing the shift from rhetoric to execution, an explicit effort to create what they call a “concrete platform for shared growth and responsibility.”
“This year has marked the beginning of the full implementation phase, as concrete initiatives are already underway in energy, water, agriculture, infrastructure, training, and health,” said Francesca Utili, director general for Africa & Special Projects for International Financial Cooperation, under the Italian Ministry of Economy & Finance (MEF). “These are areas that will shape the future of Africa and create opportunities for Italian companies to grow alongside their African partners.”
Italy’s commitment is being channelled through a lattice of public and private conduits, with the Italian export credit agency, the development finance institution CDP, and the Ministry playing roles. But government alone, Italian officials insisted, will not be the engine of transformation.
“The public sector alone is not enough,” said Utili, stating an array of dedicated instruments, such as the Piattaforma Africa and the Growth & Resilience Platform for Africa (GRAF), to crowd in private capital.
Italy’s export credit agency, SACE, now the third-largest export credit agency in Africa by portfolio, has expanded its footprint under the Mattei Plan, underwriting three billion euro in transactions across agri-food, energy, infrastructure, and healthcare, involving more than 200 Italian companies.
“We operate through insurance that ensures we work only in conjunction with other partners, such as traders or exporters,” said Paola Valerio, SACE’s head of institutional and international relations. “We extend credit to their counterparts in Africa.”
The Agency’s growing portfolio, now worth 15 billion euros in Africa, is a sign of scale and pace of the Italian push.
Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), Italy’s international development cooperation, is co-designing projects with African partners and leveraging grant funding for project preparation, an edge in a crowded field where project bankability can be elusive.
“There is no better way to de-risk a project than to design it properly from the start,” said Paolo Lombardo, CDP’s director of International Development Cooperation.
The 750-million-euro GRAF platform, launched with the AfDB, is a “fund of funds” structure to catalyse equity investment and fill the continent’s patient capital gap.
If the strategy’s ambition is continental, the execution is local and sectoral. The much-touted Lobito Corridor, a trans-African logistics and rail project linking Angola, the DR Congo, and Zambia to the Atlantic, has been cited as a case study in early action.
CDP, SACE, and the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) have partnered on a 150-million-dollar facility for the project, leveraging Italian technology and supply chains while providing a backbone for regional trade.
According to corporate representatives, some of the 2,000 delegates attending the forum, private sector actors are already reporting tangible results.
“From the private-sector side, there is no lack of interest in mobilising capital for Africa,” said Ali Lamrini, deputy CEO of CDG Invest. “The approach depends not only on financing, but on technical know-how and long-term risk-sharing.”
The Mattei Plan’s architects insist that what distinguishes the initiative is a results-oriented approach, with performance-based conditions and innovative financial instruments.
“The better the impact of a project, the better the financing terms for our clients,” said Lombardo.
This, they argue, will encourage a race to the top, ensuring projects are bankable, inclusive, and compliant with global environmental and social standards.
The AfDB and the AFC, both core partners, hailed the Mattei Plan’s, which put Ethiopia as one of te nine African countries where it is piloted, focus on partnership and long-termism.
“If after one year you already have a new partner, that is a good sign,” said Ousmane Fall, director of Non-Sovereign Operations & Private Sector for AfDB.
Experts see Italy’s commitment beyond a bid for economic opportunity, but a calculated response to global shifts, an attempt to balance European ambitions, respond to African aspirations, and secure a role for Italian industry as Africa’s next growth chapter unfolds.
“Only if we are able to attract private capital will we be able to say that we can achieve the SDGs that we have set for the African continent,” said Begna Gebreyes, AFC’s director and head of heavy industries, telecoms, and technology. “With these platforms, we touch and impact people’s lives. That is really the essence, the vision and the mission.”
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