The AFIS Awards 2025 ceremony at the Africa Financial Summit (AFIS) in Morocco yesterday highlighted the growing entrepreneurial and financial influence of African business leaders and institutions. Against the summit’s theme “From Savings to Strategic Power” seven awardees emerged as exemplars of innovation, scale and inclusion.
Here are the winners and what their success signals for Africa’s business landscape:
Monetary leadership: central banking
The top honour in central banking, African Central Bank Governor of the Year went to Abdellatif Jouahri of Bank Al‑Maghrib, Morocco. Under his stewardship, the bank has preserved price stability while promoting sustainable growth via prudent monetary policy and proactive regulation.
The governor also championed Morocco’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy, extending access for youth, women, rural populations and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Jouahri’s win sends a clear message that sound macro-policy and inclusive finance are not mutually exclusive, and countries leading this charge may be first in line for investment and growth.
Insurance sector: scale through partnership
The award for African Insurer of the Year was claimed by Heinie Werth (CA (SA)), CEO of the joint venture SanlamAllianz, South Africa. Since its launch in 2023, the alliance has delivered 31 % growth in net results from financial services and 17 % growth in new business volumes. It now ranks among the top three life-insurance players across 16 countries and general insurance across 19.
This outcome underlines how strategic collaborations, rather than purely local efforts, can produce continent-wide scale and broad distribution, a critical factor for underwriting Africa’s growth risks and insulating against volatility.
Banking leadership: driving regional ambition
The title of African Banker of the Year went to Mohamed El Kettani, CEO of Attijariwafa Bank (Morocco). He has led operations across 15 African countries and achieved a 29 % increase in net income in 2024. Under his leadership the group issued a US $500 million green bond and strengthened regional integration through strategic partnerships, including with the AfCFTA Secretariat and Nigeria’s Union Bank.
El Kettani’s prize drives home that banks that blend financial performance, sustainability-oriented instruments, and regional integration stand out and set benchmarks for Africa’s banking future.
Women in finance: fintech inclusion
The African Woman in Finance of the Year was awarded to Chilufya Mutale‑Mwila, Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of eShandi, a Zambian-led fintech operating in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa. With over a decade of experience she has expanded access to credit and savings for more than 1.5 million users.
eShandi was ranked #4 on the Financial Times Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies 2024 list.
Her recognition highlights the role of fintech in expanding access, especially for women and underserved communities a critical path to inclusive entrepreneurship, jobs and growth across Africa.
Private investment: building continent-wide platforms
The African Fund of the Year prize went to Helios Investment Partners (UK-based, Africa-focused). Managing US $3 billion in assets, Helios deploys capital across private equity and private credit to build market-leading companies in over 30 African countries.
This award emphasises that deep-pocketed, committed investors are essential to backing African entrepreneurs at scale — not simply local seed deals, but continent-wide platforms and growth-capital plays.
Fintech disruption: digital ecosystem transformation
Finally, the African Disrupter of the Year title went to HUB2 (Côte d’Ivoire), a payments infrastructure company. With a single API, HUB2 connects Africa’s fragmented payment ecosystem through AI-driven smart routing, continuous monitoring and automated refunds, achieving a 98 % transaction success rate on more than 90 million monthly transactions.
HUB2 represents how infrastructure plays rather than consumer apps alone can unlock high-impact change. By knitting together payments, trust and scale, it resonates with the summit theme: converting savings into strategic power.
What this means for African entrepreneurship
Across sectors from central banking to fintech to private equity, the winners reflect a consistent message: Africa’s business ecosystem is shifting from reactive to proactive, from dependence to design. Entrepreneurs and investors should note these four lessons:
- Inclusion matters: Winners prioritised broad access (youth, women, rural segments) as a business imperative, not just a social add-on.
- Scale is key: Market leadership across countries not just domestic dominance, is emerging as a differentiator.
- Sustainability is integrated: Green bonds, fintech inclusion, regulatory reform the winners thread sustainability into core strategy.
- Infrastructure enables: Whether payments platforms or regional banking networks, enterprise focus is shifting into systems-level playbooks.
For prospective entrepreneurs, the takeaway is clear, identify where Africa’s structural gaps remain (payments infrastructure, inclusive finance, regional platforms) and apply business models that aim beyond local silos. Investors increasingly drawn to Africa will favour ventures that show reach, purpose and return.
The AFIS Awards 2025 are thus more than a prize list. They mark a narrative shift where African enterprise is no longer simply responding to global capital, but creating the platforms, institutions and networks that will dictate the next phase of growth.
