Press Release: JFI Kicks Off African Regional Integration Fund Engagements

SOUTHERN AFRICA— The Jain Family Institute’s (JFI) Social Wealth team partnered with development economist Phelisa Nkomo and SAIPAR, RubidiumData, and i3T to initiate a series of discussions across Zambia, South Africa, and Uganda in late November. These engagements brought together experts from across the African Union to explore how a Regional Integration Fund (RIF) could power a procurement-led regional integration and industrialization strategy critical to achieving the AU’s Agenda 2063 vision. 

In Lusaka, Zambia on November 15th, JFI, RubidiumData, and local partner SAIPAR convened experts from across the continent for a three-part workshop with ministers, senior development bank economists, pension researchers, private sector professionals, and procurement strategists. The event built on the African Union’s Made by Africa report, identifying opportunities and enablers for procurement-led regional integration efforts across strategic value chains, and refining these ideas into an actionable roadmap for the Fund. The JFI team has been invited back by the office of the President of Zambia for another series of engagements that will move these discussions forward toward implementation. 

In Johannesburg, South Africa, JFI met with key partners at the G20 Social Summit. Senior Research Associate Sina Sinai spoke on a November 17th panel discussion led by the Development Bank of Southern Africa centered on the G20’s legacy pan-African sovereign wealth fund initiative. The event drew high-level ministerial participation, and the ensuing discussions helped shape the official G20 Social Summit Declaration. The pan-African sovereign wealth fund could serve as key anchor capital for the RIF and bring down the steep costs of financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on the continent, deepening industrialization and regionalization efforts. 

In Kampala, Uganda, JFI, RubidiumData, and i3T participated in the African Union’s annual Africa Industrialization Week, showcasing RubidiumData’s powerful AI-enabled supply chain mapping platform, i3T’s procurement depth through high-impact case studies, and JFI’s expertise designing public financial institutions, and how these enabling elements come together in the RIF to drive forward Agenda 2063. JFI Senior VP Paul Katz also spoke on a panel to discuss financing solutions to help SMEs benefit from the continent’s special economic zones.

Finally, in Cape Town, South Africa, Katz participated in the ORF’s Cape Town Conversation, driving discussions on the ways in which sovereign wealth funds across leading states of the Global South are reshaping investment and industrialization strategies. 

Find out more about JFI’s Social Wealth initiative here.