The Executive Chairman of KGL Group, Mr. Alex Dadey, has called for a bold rethinking of Africa’s development model, one that puts the private sector, innovation, and the African diaspora at the very heart of national transformation efforts.
Mr. Dadey said governments alone cannot drive Africa’s economic transformation. He stressed that the continent’s “true path to global scale” lies in achieving market dominance and ownership within Africa first.
“Governments do not create wealth, the private sector does,” he declared. “African governments must move beyond treating private enterprises as afterthoughts in national strategies and make them central players in policy formulation and implementation.”
Drawing from over three decades of corporate leadership across 25 countries and his experience as former Board Chair of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr. Dadey emphasized that Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are critical to unlocking the continent’s potential.
However, he warned that the history of PPPs in Africa has too often been “scarred” by transactional arrangements, political vulnerability, and public mistrust. To change this, he urged both government and business leaders to pursue a shared vision anchored on trust, policy alignment, and mutual benefit.
“The private sector should not limit PPPs to commercial collaboration,” he added. “It must also act as a responsible corporate citizen by filling social intervention gaps left uncovered by governments.”
He cited the KGL Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of KGL Group, as an example of how private enterprise can create sustainable social impact through education, health, and youth empowerment initiatives.
Mr. Dadey also challenged African nations to pursue economic sovereignty by taking ownership of higher segments of global value chains, rather than leaving them to multinational corporations.
“It is unacceptable that foreign corporations can extract profits from Africa while local firms struggle to scale beyond national borders,” he said. “Our task as Africans is to build enabling environments where enterprise thrives, where the private sector is empowered, and where the diaspora is engaged not as bystanders but as co-architects of our collective destiny.”
Encouraging entrepreneurs to embrace innovation tailored to Africa’s unique challenges, he described the continent as “the ultimate testing ground for resilience and creativity.”
“If your logistics platform can navigate the infrastructural complexities of Kinshasa or Nigeria’s power challenges, it can thrive anywhere in the world,” he said.
He further cautioned against a mindset that undermines local champions, stressing that true economic growth requires nurturing African business success stories.
“We cannot build economies of scale if we constantly cut down the tallest trees,” Mr. Dadey warned. “Celebrating homegrown enterprises is vital for building transgenerational businesses that can one day list on global platforms”.
Nonetheless, Africa’s digital economy is surging with unprecedented momentum, contributing nearly 5% to GDP by the end of 2025. With over 60% of the population under 25 and growing internet penetration, the continent is poised to leapfrog traditional development challenges through innovations in mobile money, agritech, and healthtech.
