In This Newsletter
Meet Our Africa Leadership Council Members
Global Financial Scholars Programs: 10 Years of Impact
Africa Highlights at the 2025 Middle East and Africa Conference in Abu Dhabi
Looking Back at Fall 2025 and Early 2026: Programmatic and Partnership Updates
Publications and ALC Thought Leadership
Recent and Upcoming Engagements: Spring and Summer 2026
Meet Our Africa Leadership Council Members
We are pleased to spotlight the members of our Africa Leadership Council (ALC), whose leadership, expertise, and engagement are helping shape our collective efforts across the continent. We look forward to continuing our work together to reflect Africa’s evolving realities and highlight opportunities for capital mobilization across key sectors.
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Global Financial Scholars Programs: 10 Years of Impact
In 2026, the International Finance Corporation (IFC)–Milken Institute Capital Markets Program, hosted at Georgetown University, marks its 10th anniversary. We look forward to celebrating this milestone throughout the year with our partners.
This spring, 42 scholars across the US and the UK are undertaking internships with more than 30 leading financial firms. We are grateful to all our internship hosts, especially our 10 first-time partners, and ALC members Cisco, Liberty Bank & Trust, and Lion’s Head Global Partners.
Africa Highlights at the 2025 Middle East and Africa Conference in Abu Dhabi
Last December in Abu Dhabi, we convened a strong contingent of African leaders from across capital markets, development finance, private-sector innovation, philanthropy, government, and technology to explore new avenues for investment, partnership, and shared prosperity. With sessions on topics ranging from sovereign wealth fund management to the creative economy, contributions from our ALC members brought the continent to the forefront of the summit agenda. The summit also featured a private dinner of our council, cohosted by ALC members Equity Bank and Liberty Bank & Trust.
Public session recordings can be viewed online at the following links:
- From Capital to Catalyst: How African Sovereign Wealth Funds Are Accelerating Investment Opportunities
- From Demographics to Digital: Seizing Africa's AI Investment Opportunity
- Strategic Resources, Global Stakes: Critical Mineral Investments in a Changing World
Looking Back at Fall 2025 and Early 2026: Programmatic and Partnership Updates
October 13–15, 2025
UNITED STATES (Washington, DC)—On the sidelines of the World Bank–International Monetary Fund fall meetings, the Milken Institute Africa team convened two roundtables at the Milken Center.
The session on “Africa Creditworthiness and Sovereign Transparency Platform”—organized in partnership with ALC member Lion’s Head Global Partners and the African Development Bank—brought together seven African sovereigns, three major credit rating agencies, and four major US foundations.
The second roundtable, organized in partnership with Lockington Partners, focused on “African Infrastructure as an Asset Class” and highlighted the sector’s role in driving regional economic growth. The discussion featured leadership from the Africa Finance Corporation and Africa50, among other valuable perspectives.
November 4, 2025
KENYA (Nairobi)—Milken Institute Africa Chair British Robinson kicked off the 2025 African Venture Philanthropy Alliance Conference with an opening keynote highlighting the importance of unlocking African capital alongside global capital. She called for philanthropy in Africa to evolve from traditional grants toward catalytic, early-stage, risk-absorbing capital.
November 12, 2025
UNITED STATES (Los Angeles, CA)—The Africa team convened a panel titled “Africa to Hollywood: The New Creative Superhighway ” during the Pacific Council’s 2025 Annual Conference.
The session explored the rapid growth of—and tremendous investment opportunity in—Africa’s creative economy, focusing on how co-productions, streaming platforms, and tech-enabled storytelling are reshaping global narratives and creating new pathways for collaboration, investment, and job creation between Africa and Hollywood.
November 17, 2025
SOUTH AFRICA (Johannesburg)—Robinson actively participated in South Africa’s B20 meetings as a member of the B20 Finance & Infrastructure Taskforce. She spoke on several panels, including the role of insurers and asset managers in de-risking infrastructure investment, and participated in the Bloomberg Africa Conference and the S&P Global Africa Summit. View the video summarizing the work of the task force.
December 3–6, 2025
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (Abu Dhabi)—Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit in Abu Dhabi, bringing together our Africa Leadership Council and a delegation of 80 investors and business leaders active on the continent for panels and private discussions on investment opportunities in the Middle East and Africa.
January 20–21, 2026
UNITED STATES (Palm Beach, FL)—Robinson spoke at the Family | Enterprise | Wealth XV Conference, addressing a select audience of family offices and private investors. She delivered spotlight remarks on the investment case for Africa (“Why Africa? Why Now?”) and shared perspectives on key opportunities in Africa’s critical minerals sector and its importance to US national security during a dynamic panel discussion.
January 28–29, 2026
UNITED KINGDOM (London)—Robinson, Milken Institute CEO Richard Ditizio, and Milken Institute Africa Senior Director Carole Biau held two days of Africa-focused meetings, including an Africa asset manager dinner hosted by ALC member Lion’s Head Global Partners; a convening of World Bank–Milken Institute scholars; and a roundtable on the resilience of the emerging-markets asset class, hosted by ImpactA Global. They also met privately with African thought leaders and philanthropists, including Mo and Hosh Ibrahim and DJ Cuppy.
February 11, 2026
SOUTH AFRICA (Cape Town)—Milken Institute Africa roundtable on “Unlocking Creative Capital for Africa’s Mining Future” at the Mining Indaba Conference, moderated by Robinson and featuring ALC members Africa Finance Corporation and Glencore, alongside the US International Development Finance Corporation, US Trade and Development Agency, Orion Resource Partners, RMB, and Metalex Commodities.
Publications and ALC Thought Leadership
- The Smart Money Is Missing Africa’s Most Reliable Growth Story
- The $2.5 Trillion Opportunity US Investors Can’t Access
- From our ALC member VestedWorld, these reports, Investing in African Agribusiness and Investing in African Consumer Goods, reflect more than a decade of investing across Africa’s real economy and offer a perspective on what drives durable, scalable growth.
- From our ALC member Africa Finance Corporation, we are pleased to share Compendium of Africa’s Strategic Minerals 2026, a groundbreaking publication linking critical minerals to power, transport, industrial zones, demand fundamentals, and global supply chain dynamics.
Recent and Upcoming Engagements: Spring and Summer 2026
February 26 | Oslo: Robinson will speak at the Norwegian–African Business Outlook 2026
March 25–26 | Santa Clara, CA: Robinson will deliver the keynote address at the African Diaspora Investment Symposium
April 13–19 | Washington, DC: In collaboration with Africa Leadership Council members, Milken Institute Africa will host curated roundtables at the World Bank–International Monetary Fund Spring meetings
April 22–24 | Oxford: Robinson will speak at the Skoll Forum
April 29 | Washington, DC: Graduation of the 13th cohort of the IFC–Milken Institute Capital Markets Program
May 3–6 | Los Angeles, CA: ALC participation at the Milken Institute Global Conference
May 14–15 | Kigali: Robinson will participate in the Africa CEO Forum
June 16 | London: Graduation of the fourth cohort of the World Bank–Milken Institute Public Financial Asset Management Program