3rd Edition of the Eastern Africa Association ( EAA) Annual Lecture 2025

Theme: Capital and Influence: Our region’s development ambitions in a fragmented business landscape

Focus countries: Seychelles; Ethiopia; Mauritius; Rwanda; Democratic Republic of the Congo

Background:

Global capital markets are being reshaped by geopolitical realignments, the race for critical minerals, the transition to cleaner energy, and rapid digitalisation. In this environment, capital is no longer neutral it reflects strategy, politics, and shifting alliances.

Where investors once relied on multilateral finance, commodity cycles, and macro stability, today’s decisions must account for tighter fiscal space, evolving ESG standards, and the implications of strategic alignment.

Across the region, governments are working to de‑risk their macro outlooks, deepen regional integration, and build new trade and energy partnerships while balancing demands for stability, inclusion, and growth. For CEOs, asset managers, and public officials, the question is not whether to engage, but how and at what level of risk.

The Eastern Africa Association’s Annual Lecture & Conference convenes institutional investors, fund managers, DFIs, corporates, government leaders, and professional advisers to examine how countries in the region are navigating a more contested global order and how business can position for long‑term opportunity.

This year’s Annual Lecture examines the complex interplay between finance, trade energy, and geopolitics, and how it is reshaping the way capital is deployed across the region and wider Africa.

The lecture delivered by one of the region's leading economist will be followed by responses and country roundtables featuring: Mauritius, Ethiopia, DRC and Rwanda.

The EAA Annual lecture is a prominent annual event when we pause to reflect, to listen, and to engage with big ideas shaping our region

Guiding questions

1. Financing shifts: What follows as concessional finance recedes, green finance expands, and emerging powers help set investment terms?
2. Strategic resources: How can countries in this region ( East Africa) turn minerals critical to the energy transition into lasting economic and geopolitical advantages?
3. Risk and alignment: What new risks and openings arise when investment flows reflect strategic alignment as well as returns?
4. Competitiveness: How are individual countries carving out a competitive edge in a more complex, increasingly regionalised world economy?

Agenda at a glance

Opening keynote: Capital in a contested world implications for Eastern Africa.

Panel 1 : Financing after the concessional era blending public, private, and green capital.

Country spotlights (Focus countries): Practical updates on policy priorities, pipelines, and partnerships.

Panel2: From resources to leverage building value chains around critical minerals

Panel 3: Energy diplomacy and infrastructure corridors power, goods, and data across borders.

Panel : Financial centres and regulatory cooperation—what it takes to reduce friction and attract capital., ESG in practice meeting compliance expectations while enabling growth, Fund structuring, dispute prevention and resolution—de‑risking transactions in the region.

Closing conversation: Positioning for resilience how investors and governments can partner for durable outcomes.

Who should attend

• Institutional and private investors, asset managers, and family offices
• Corporate executives and strategy leads
• Development finance institutions and policy makers
• Professional services: legal, tax, advisory, and risk

Outcomes for delegates

• Clear, current insight into country strategies and investment conditions
• Practical guidance on structuring, compliance, and risk management
• Connections with peers, policy makers, and project sponsors
• A forward view of opportunities linked to the energy transition and regional integration

Join us by registering your interest here:

For more information: info@eaa-lon.co.uk