The African Export-Import Bank and the Development Bank of Southern Africa have established a $20 million joint facility to prepare infrastructure and industrial projects in South Africa and the wider Southern African region for investment, targeting a key bottleneck that often prevents projects from reaching financial close.
Under the Joint Project Preparation Facility (JPPF), each institution can contribute up to $10 million to fund the technical, financial and legal work required to move high-impact projects from concept to bankability.
The facility will initially target power and energy, transport and logistics, information and communications technology, and strategic minerals beneficiation, with particular attention to energy-transition projects and initiatives that support regional trade.
The two institutions will jointly originate, screen and prioritise projects before supporting feasibility studies, financial structuring, legal work and other preparation needed to attract larger pools of public, private and blended capital.
“Africa’s infrastructure challenge is not only about shortage of capital; it is also about shortage of projects prepared to the standard required by investors and lenders,” said Kanayo Awani, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President for Intra-African Trade and Export Development.
“This JPPF addresses this critical constraint. By combining Afreximbank’s trade and industrialisation mandate with DBSA’s infrastructure-development expertise, we will help move priority projects from concept to investment readiness and mobilise the larger pools of public, private and blended finance required for implementation,” she said.
Projects developed through the facility could subsequently seek financing from Afreximbank or DBSA or be presented to commercial lenders, development finance institutions and private investors, subject to separate appraisal and approval.
The agreement follows South Africa’s accession to Afreximbank in February 2026 as its 54th member state, when the bank also announced an $8 billion country programme for the country.
It also builds on a Master Risk Participation Agreement signed between Afreximbank and DBSA in February, extending their cooperation from financing into earlier-stage project preparation.
The initiative supports South Africa’s National Development Plan 2030, Southern African Development Community integration and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, with projects expected to focus on infrastructure and industrial capacity that can support cross-border trade.
DBSA Chief Investment Officer Gregory Fyfe said the facility would strengthen the pipeline of bankable infrastructure and industrial projects while accelerating investment in projects supporting economic growth and regional integration.
“This will unlock investment opportunities and accelerate the delivery of infrastructure that supports economic growth, industrialisation and regional integration,” Fyfe said.
Project preparation remains a major constraint in infrastructure development. DBSA says projects can face an average eight- to nine-year gap between identification and implementation, underscoring the need for early-stage funding and technical support to move projects towards financial close.
The JPPF will initially concentrate on South Africa and Southern Africa but can be extended to other African jurisdictions of mutual interest.
For Afreximbank and DBSA, the facility represents an attempt to bridge the gap between Africa’s infrastructure needs and the supply of projects capable of absorbing long-term capital, while linking project development more directly to industrialisation, regional trade and the AfCFTA.
