Dr. Samuel Maimbo, a frontrunner for the African Development Bank (AfDB) presidency, has outlined his vision for higher rates of economic growth, infrastructure modernization, and regional integration in Africa.
Aiming to become the second Zambian to lead the bank, he stresses the need to reduce reliance on foreign aid by mobilizing domestic resources and private sector investment.
Maimbo faces competition from four other candidates, including Amadou Hott, (Senegal) Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala (South Africa), Mahamat Abbas Tolli (Chad), Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala (South Africa), and Sidi Ould Tah (Mauritania).
DON’T MISS THIS: 8 candidates in race to succeed Adesina as AfDB President in 2025
The election for the new President will be held on May 29, 2025, during the African Development Bank’s Annual Meeting in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
In this exclusive interview with Business Insider Africa, Dr. Maimbo describes the AfDB as a vital instrument for fostering trade, driving job creation, and strengthening private-sector partnerships to unlock Africa’s full potential.
BI: What is your specific vision for the African Development Bank under your leadership?
Africa is growing faster than the global average, yet poverty and inequality continue to rise. We need higher and more inclusive growth rates to tackle today’s challenges and seize tomorrow’s opportunities.
My vision for the African Development Bank is a results-driven institution that delivers impact, scales up ambitions, and helps governments create opportunities for one billion people to work—urgently and at scale. We must prioritize trade, regional integration, infrastructure, agriculture, energy, financial resources, inclusive growth, climate resilience, and creative industries.
Africa has enough strategies; now is the time for action. The AfDB needs a President who will unleash its full potential to serve governments, drive economic transformation, and create jobs at pace. We must stop talking about Africa’s potential and focus on getting things done.
BI: How do you plan to align the Bank’s priorities with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals?
My priorities for the Bank – focusing on pace and scale to catapult Africa into middle-income status – are in sync with the economic blueprints within Agenda 2063. Under my leadership, the Bank will modernize Africa’s infrastructure to better connect our economic hubs, deepen regional integration through the AfCFTA to foster trade, and support governments in mobilizing a more diverse array of domestic and global resources.
I recently attended the African Union Summit – where there was a palpable determination to create prosperity and achieve our development objectives by working together.
BI: The SADC has recently pledged its support for your candidacy. Do you believe this backing is strong enough to secure your path to becoming the next AfDB president?
I have been honored to receive the endorsements of both COMESA and SADC. We have a strong campaign, and I look forward to building on the support we have received thus far to deliver a future where Africa’s progress is inclusive, resilient, and scaled up for generations to come.
BI: Let’s discuss the impact of the “Trump factor.” The United States is Africa’s largest donor, providing substantial support for both infrastructure and humanitarian efforts across the continent. How would the African Development Bank operate under your leadership if the U.S. were to significantly reduce or cut off aid to Africa?
The decision to suspend aid is concerning. The American people have been valuable development partners in Africa, especially in sectors such as health where lifesaving support has been celebrated.
The decision though, is a reminder of the importance of diversifying revenue and investment sources to power Africa’s development. Aid is important and valuable, but it must be one part of a much bigger equation.
Now more than before, the African Development Bank needs to focus on facilitating private sector investment supported by strategic loan guarantees; tapping into underutilized resources that already exist across Africa, including domestic pension funds and central bank reserves; and building stronger partnerships with those who are eager to invest in Africa under the right conditions, including other global multilateral development banks.
At the end of the day, the U.S. will continue to be an important partner for Africa and I have no doubt that there are positive ways to work together going forward.
BI: How do you plan to leverage initiatives such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to boost regional integration and economic growth, and what is your strategy for fostering cross-border trade and addressing barriers to regional economic integration?
We must get trade moving quicker across the continent, we must trade with our neighbors and our fellow Africans at a much greater scale. We are all losing out if we continue the status quo.
Modernizing infrastructure is critical for fostering intra-African trade, stabilizing prices, and boosting competitiveness. The Bank can spearhead regional integration by syndicating project financing and issuing infrastructure bonds to attract investment and close the infrastructure gap which is costing economies big on lost productivity.
We must ensure projects connect countries, not just regions, are inclusive of women and young people during the planning process, and integrate the digital economy to bridge opportunity gaps. We have to think bigger, be bolder, and move faster.
There are so many very practical solutions and interventions that can massively impact how much Africa is trading with Africa, and once we get started we can demonstrate the value-add – the impact on industries’ and national economies’ bottom lines. This is how we will supercharge regional integration.
BI: Do you see the BRICS formation as an opportunity for Africans?
If elected President, my focus will be on making sure that the African Development Bank is the premier development institution of choice for governments in Africa that simply want a fair shot at financing the development and prosperity of their people – regardless of the regional or global bodies they individually chose to join.
DON’T MISS THIS: AfDB sanctions 12 African firms for fraud between 2023 – 2024
We have a lot of urgent work to do: delivering generational job creation, unlocking our continent’s advantages in agriculture, modernizing our infrastructure, and delivering energy access.
BI: What role do you see for the private sector in achieving the Bank’s development goals, and how will you enhance collaboration with private partners and other financial institutions?
The Bank needs to build strong partnerships with Africa’s private sector. By focusing on institutional effectiveness and operational excellence, the Bank can boost investor confidence and help create the enabling environments needed for businesses to thrive. We must maximize the potential of private domestic resources and PPPs and unlock financing into sectors that are enablers of growth, including energy, infrastructure, agriculture and the creative industries.
Africa’s private sector should be very clearly tasked with contributing to Africa’s development goals, and the AfDB has an important role to play in facilitating this through reducing risks and perceptions of risk, loan guarantees, and listening to the private sector’s needs and objectives – as well as what’s blocking those from being realized. The AfDB should be the central convenor, the problem solver, and the dealmaker.
