His Excellency the President of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, has urged a rethink of Africa’s approach to natural resources at UNSTOPPABLE AFRICA 2026, calling on the continent to move away from exporting raw minerals and instead process and transform them at home. Opening this year’s program in a fireside chat, President Bio, the first African Head of State to do so, said mineral value addition is critical to industrialisation, economic transformation and inclusive development.
President Bio said keeping more of the processing chain on the continent would not only generate more revenue for national economies but also create meaningful jobs, especially for Africa’s large and growing young population. He reiterated the need for complementary infrastructure investments in sectors like roads, energy, logistics, and industrial facilities to unlock Africa’s productive potential, create value addition, and fast-track the continent’s development.
“Africa needs to move away from the extraction and export of raw materials. “We need to process and transform our minerals on the continent and at the same time invest in the infrastructure needed to drive value addition, strengthen our economies and create meaningful jobs and opportunities for our youth,” President Bio said.
Following his fireside chat, President Bio joined the high-level launch ceremony of UNSTOPPABLE AFRICA 2026. The summit brought together senior United Nations officials, former African presidents, leading African business executives, and representatives of major financial institutions, reflecting the summit’s multi-stakeholder approach.
During the opening ceremony, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and African Union Commission Chair Mahmoud Ali Youssouf delivered keynote speeches highlighting the need for African leadership, deeper global partnerships and bold, targeted investments to accelerate development throughout the continent.
UNSTOPPABLE AFRICA 2026, organised by the United Nations Global Compact with the theme “Powering Business, Scaling Economies, Shaping the Future”, is hosted by the United Nations and the African Union. The program brings policymakers, private sector leaders, and financiers together to take concrete steps to foster industrialisation, strengthen value chains across Africa, and build the infrastructure needed for sustained, inclusive economic growth.
