Tony Elumelu Backs Bio’s West Africa Investment Summit

ABUJA, Nigeria — African business leader and philanthropist Tony Elumelu has pledged his support for the West Africa Integration and Investment Summit (WAIIS), a regional initiative being convened under the leadership of Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio.

Elumelu made the commitment during a high-level engagement with President Bio in Abuja. He also expressed readiness to provide financial support and to mobilise leading African private-sector figures for the summit and activities that follow it.

President Bio is Chairman of ECOWAS, and WAIIS is presented as an initiative aimed at strengthening economic integration across West Africa. The summit is scheduled for 16–18 November 2026.

Focus on regional investment

WAIIS is intended to bring together governments, development partners, investors and private-sector actors around a shared programme for regional growth and prosperity.

Its four strategic areas are energy trade and industrial development; strategic minerals and natural resource development; agribusiness and the transformation of food systems; and digital transformation and connectivity.

The summit’s theme is: “Powering Regional Integration through Energy Trade, Strategic Minerals, Agribusiness and Digital Transformation.”

Dr. Kandeh K. Yumkella, the summit’s Special Envoy and a key architect of its framework, has said the initiative is intended to move beyond discussion. According to Yumkella, WAIIS aims to produce investment frameworks, analytical reports and a pipeline of bankable regional projects.

Private-sector backing

Elumelu praised President Bio’s leadership and the summit’s emphasis on practical economic transformation through cooperation and investment among West African countries.

His pledge is expected to strengthen WAIIS’s visibility and credibility among investors, development finance institutions and business leaders. The commitment adds private-sector backing to an initiative being developed as ECOWAS marks fifty years since its establishment in 1975.

The source information does not specify the amount, form or terms of the financial support Elumelu has offered. It also does not provide projected investment totals or measurable economic outcomes for the summit.