As global markets undergo rapid transformation, the Canada-Africa economic corridor is emerging as one of the most dynamic spaces for investment, innovation, and sustainable growth. This Financing Forum, set to convene in 2026, welcomes leading investors, institutional partners, policymakers, and project developers to explore the capital flows shaping the future of Canadian and African competitiveness—across venture capital, private equity, sovereign wealth funds. With a focus reflecting interest from members to date - including critical minerals, energy and agri-business - we welcome inputs to the program as we co-curate the forum agenda. Prime Minister Mark Carney recently announced major commitments related to financing, alongside trade and investment, in African markets. Discussions will include: - Canada-Africa investment opportunities - Trends for de-risking investments, including prerequisites to attract institutional capital, with a focus on critical minerals and green energy - Case studies of successful transactions across sectors - The impact of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on the current and future investment outlook As part of the Chamber’s mission to accelerate trade and investment, this event provides a platform where deals can be initiated, relationships strengthened, and strategic insights shared. The Financing Forum reinforces the Chamber...
Thu, May 14, 2026 at 3:00 AMendedReplay
Investor webinar replay
Meeting Overview The meeting was a formal opening of the Canada Africa Financing Forum held in Cape Town, focusing on strengthening investment and economic partnerships between Canada and Africa. Key speakers included local government officials and representatives from Canada, emphasizing the importance of collaboration in various sectors for future growth. Key Discussion Points - Welcome and introductions of distinguished guests and sponsors. - Recognition of the partnership between Canada and South Africa. - Discussion on the role of FINDEV in unlocking investment opportunities. - Emphasis on critical minerals, environmental considerations, and technology's role in economic growth. - Cape Town's ambition to be a leading business and investment destination in Africa. - Highlighting Cape Town's diverse sectors, including FinTech, renewable energy, and the space economy. - Importance of public-private partnerships in economic growth. - The significance of blended finance and infrastr...
Zach is the Managing Partner at Launch Africa Ventures – Africa’s most prominent and active early-stage VC Fund with a portfolio of 130+ tech ventures across 20+ countries. He is also the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Startupbootcamp AfriTech – the leading multi-corporate backed venture accelerator program in Africa. Zach is a prominent Angel investor in 50+ leading tech startups in Africa including Flutterwave, KudaBank, Mono, Marketforce and several others. He was featured on the cover of Fast Company Africa (May 2018), Destiny Man (Nov 2019) and on several occasions on CNBC Africa. In January 2020, he was recognized as one of the Top 4 Most Influential Persons in Technology in Africa by Les Echos (the French equivalent of the Financial Times). Zach was formerly the head of Africa Investments for U-Start – the largest network of private Multi-Family offices in Europe. Prior to moving to South Africa, he was an investment banker on Wall Street covering mergers & acquisitions, corporate finance strategy and risk management at Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital, New York. Zach has a Master’s degree in Finance & Management from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology. Outside of his professional life, Zach is an acoustic guitarist, pianist and vocalist with cover albums ‘Give A Little’ (2010) and ‘Humans with Hearts’ (2018) on iTunes and Spotify. He is an avid lover of theatre and the performing arts, likes hiking and a good game of tennis and squash. He enjoys creative writing and is currently busy finishing a work of non-fiction.
Ntlai holds a B.Sc. (Electrical) Engineering from University of the Witwatersrand, a Graduate Diploma in Industrial Engineering also from WITS, and completed the non-certificated Deloitte Executive Development Programme at GIBS (University of Pretoria). He brings more than 15 years of experience in investment banking and coverage focused on SA power and infrastructure projects for the largest commercial bank by assets in Africa. As Partner at Deloitte for several years Ntlai led the team serving Government departments and State-Owned Enterprise in South Africa before joining Standard Bank as Corporate Finance executive in 2008.
From 2009-13 Ntlai was Head of Power & Infrastructure Advisory SA, for Standard Bank CIB, where he led project financial advisory, debt and equity raising for clients prior to heading coverage from 2013-2017. Notable clients include Eskom, Transnet, SAA, Rand Water, TCTA and CIG. In this role he also engaged extensively with regional Power utilities in the SAPP including NamPower, Eskom in SA, ZPC in Zimbabwe, EDM in Mozambique, ZESCO in Zambia, EEP in Ethiopia and CEC in Zambia.
Wayne has 30+ years of international trade and investment promotion experience and expertise, with a particular focus on mining. He worked previously with the South African Department of Trade and Industry in Toronto and the Sudbury Regional Development Corporation. He has organized numerous delegations at international trade shows, trade missions and conferences including; the annual MineAfrica pavillion at PDAC, MinExpo in Las Vegas, Electra Mining, and the Canadian Institute of Mining, as well as high profile ministerial and trade delegations to Canada. He is a current Board Member (and past Chairman) of The Canada-Africa Chamber of Business, Past President of the Canadian Italian Business and Professional Association of Canada and a current member of The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC). Wayne holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario - a world centre for mining and mining technology.
Head of the AfCFTA Unit for Free Trade at The Canada-Africa Chamber of Business
Sebastian SPIO Garbrah is Head of the AfCFTA Unit for Free Trade at The Canada-Africa Chamber of Business, and the former Chair of the organization's board. He is the Global Managing Director & Chief Frontier Markets Analyst at DaMina Advisors. He has been recognized as one of the world’s leading frontier markets analysts, was voted among the ‘Top 30 under 30 Analysts’ by New York’s Institutional Investor Magazine in 2006.
Sebastian helped establish the Africa risk research practice at leading global political risk consultancy firm, Eurasia Group LLC in New York, London (UK) and Tokyo, and concurrently served as a sovereign risk analyst on Sub-Saharan Africa’s two largest economies, Nigeria and South Africa for a novel global stability index developed by Eurasia Group with Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank, and subsequently, with Citigroup between 2005 and 2010.
Since 2010, Sebastian has been Global Managing Director & Chief Frontier Markets Analyst at DaMina Advisors where he advises the boards, CEOs and portfolio managers of many of the world’s leading multinationals and largest institutional investors on Africa.
A prolific writer and an ambidextrous thinker, Sebastian also advised former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Commission on Africa. Sebastian sits on several boards. He holds a B.A (double) in Economics and Political Science from Middlebury College, Vermont and a Juris Doctor (J.D) in law from Rutgers University, New Jersey.
Lori Kerr joined FinDev Canada as Chief Executive Officer in June 2021. A Canadian national, she is a widely experienced international development finance professional with more than two decades of leadership in private investment in emerging markets with a focus on sustainable infrastructure, climate finance, and blended finance.
Ms. Kerr joined FinDev Canada by way of the Global Infrastructure Facility at the World Bank in Washington, DC, where she was responsible for corporate strategy, thought leadership, partnerships, and international engagement for the largest global fund advising developing country governments on the preparation and structuring of commercially viable infrastructure projects.
Previously, Ms. Kerr served as Senior Director at Climate Finance Advisors developing low-carbon, climate-resilient investment strategies and blended finance solutions to mobilize private capital in developing countries. She also spent 18 years at the Inter-American Development Bank Group serving in management and senior investment roles where she spearheaded strategic initiatives to support the expansion and development impact of private sector activities as well as private sector transaction origination, structuring, and asset management. Ms. Kerr also spent 14 years as an Adjunct Professor of International Project Finance and Investment at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Kerr holds an Honours Bachelor degree from the University of Western Ontario and an International MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University.
Lori Kerr s'est jointe à FinDev Canada à titre de chef de la direction en juin 2021. De nationalité canadienne, Mme Kerr est une professionnelle du financement du développement avec plus de deux décennies d’expérience en investissement privé dans les marchés en développement, dotée d’une expertise fine dans les domaines des infrastructures durables, des changements climatiques et du financement mixte.
Mme Kerr s’est jointe à FinDev Canada par le biais du Mécanisme mondial de financement des infrastructures à la Banque mondiale à Washington, D.C., où elle était responsable de la stratégie d’entreprise, du leadership de connaissances, des partenariats et de l’engagement international pour le plus important fonds global devant conseiller les gouvernements de différents pays sur la préparation et la structuration de projets d’infrastructures commerciales viables.
Mme Kerr a occupé le poste de directrice principale à Climate Finance Advisors, où elle a élaboré des stratégies d’investissement sobres en carbone et résilientes aux changements climatiques et des solutions de financement mixte pour mobiliser des capitaux privés dans les pays en développement. Elle a aussi passé 18 ans à la Banque interaméricaine de développement, où elle y a tenu plusieurs rôles de gestion et a dirigé des initiatives stratégiques visant à soutenir la croissance et l’impact des activités du secteur privé ainsi que l’origination, la structuration et la gestion d’actifs pour des transactions du secteur privé. Pendant 14 ans, Mme Kerr a aussi occupé le rôle de professeure associée, investissement et financement de projets internationaux à l’école des services diplomatiques de l’université de Georgetown à Washington, D.C.
Mme Kerr détient un baccalauréat avec distinction de l’université de Western Ontario et une maîtrise internationale en administration des affaires de la Schulich School of Business à l’université York.
Replay transcript excerpt
Speaker 1: Good morning again, ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests. We are live. It is 9 a.m. In Cape Town, 3 a.m. For those joining in Toronto, and I know there are a number on the live broadcast today, but a very warm welcome. I would like to ask each 1 of you delegates to kindly join me in rising as we welcome the distinguished leadership Speaker 1: from the Canada Speaker 1: and from the government of Canada in particular, as well as counterparts at a ministerial and Premier level here in South Africa. And I now call upon our VIP tables Speaker 1: to kindly enter the room. And joining us here, we have the Acting Premier of the Western Cape, Dr. Iban Meyer, the Honorable Cynthia Speaker 1: Timor-Jazin, who is the Deputy Speaker 1: Minister for International Development, the cabinet of Prime Minister Mark Carney, High Commissioner James Christophe, High Commissioner of Canada to South Africa, Minister Deidre Bartman, Minister of Finance for the Western Cape, who was just with us in Canada last week. Lance Hraling, representing the Mayor, Director of Enterprise and Investment Development for the City of Cape Town. Ryan Clark, Director General for Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa in the Government of Canada. Alex George, Senior Trade Commissioner. Shona Flanagan, Counselor for Development at the High Commission of Canada. Speaker 1: And finally, major sponsor, Arne Weisenberger, Speaker 1: Regional Director for Hatch. A warm welcome to our sponsors and to our leaders. Thank you for everything that you do for Canada, Africa, trade and investment. Speaker 1: I invite each 1 of you to kindly take your seats as we begin the program. Speaker 1: And in the spirit of this program, I'd like to recognize the partners that you'll be hearing from throughout today. S...
