Big infrastructure projects require big financing deals. But getting to that point often involves ingenuity and innovation. In this episode we explore new methods for financing infrastructure projects in Africa. Co-host Carol Pineau looks at how the Azura Edo power plant in Nigeria overcame a slew of obstacles to get a deal signed. Later Pineau hosts a roundtable featuring Alain Ebobisse, CEO of Africa50, Acha Leke, Chairman of McKinsey's Africa Region, and Ibukun Awosika, Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria. We want to hear from you! To fill out our 2021 listener survey, go to survey.fan/foreignpolicy.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Africa is not only building new roads and airports but also getting wired up for a vast expansion of digital services. Innovations in ICT are helping fill in the gaps when it comes to things like banking and education and is the engine behind creative new businesses throughout Africa. This episode features stories from the tech campus Seme City in Benin, coders like Betelhem Dessie, and startups like poa! Internet. In the second half of the how, co-host Carol Pineau leads a roundtable discussion with Paula Ingabire, Minister of ICT and Innovation in Rwanda, Brian Herlihy, founder of SEACOM, and Omosalewa Adeyemi, Global Head of Expansion and Partnerships at Flutterwave.    We want to hear from you! To fill out our 2021 listener survey, go to survey.fan/foreignpolicy.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of Africa Forward highlights how Africans are finding new ways to fund energy projects and how this is creating transformational change on the continent. The episode begins with a story from the reporter Laura Rosbrow-Telem looking at the financing and construction of the Benban Solar Park in Egypt. Later, co-host Carol Pineau leads a conversation on creating the best energy mix and how to properly fund large-scale projects. Her guests include Vera Songwe, the executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa; Hafez El-Salmawy, a professor of energy engineering at Zagazig University in Egypt; and Ernest Moniz, a former U.S. energy secretary.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode looks at the promise and potential of infrastructure projects to facilitate transportation and trade on the continent. In the first half, reporter Laura Rosbrow-Telem takes listeners to the Gambia for a ride over the Senegambia Bridge, an important new gateway for Senegal and the Gambia for facilitating trade and commerce in Africa. Then in the roundtable, co-host Carol Pineau leads a conversation on how investments in roads, bridges, ports, and airports can have a dramatic impact on trade. She also delves into how the newly established African Continental Free Trade Area, the world’s largest trading bloc by number of participants, will galvanize trade on the continent and help make African countries less reliant on the West for economic stimulation. Participants in this discussion include: Benedict Oramah, President of the African Export-Import Bank Juliet Anammah, chair of Jumia Nigeria and head of institutional affairs for Jumia Group Allan Kilavuka, CEO of Kenya Airways Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing Africa Forward, a podcast from Africa50 produced by FP Studios,. Hosts Isha Sesay and Carol Pineau explore infrastructure challenges, successes, and opportunities in Africa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices