“The Next Step for African Private Equity Is Mobilizing African Savings” — Aziz Mebarek, AfricInvest Co-Founder

Aziz Mebarek, who co‑founded AfricInvest with Ziad Oueslati in Tunis in 1994, says the next step for African private equity is mobilising domestic savings. AfricInvest now manages 22 funds, oversees more than $2 billion in assets and 170 investments across 25 countries, according to Mebarek, who spoke to Agence Ecofin on the sidelines of the Africa Forward event following the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA) conference in Nairobi in late April 2026. Three decades after the sector began in earnest, private capital deployed through private equity, private debt and venture capital across Africa totals roughly $5 billion, he noted — a figure he contrasts with $125 billion across Europe and the UK.

"We will see real momentum when more than 50% of capital raised comes from African savings," Mebarek said. "That will take years, perhaps decades."

Context and industry progress

Mebarek, a civil engineer by training and one of the pioneers of African private equity, highlighted a multi‑pronged journey from the continent's first private equity fund in 1994 to the present ecosystem. He recalled that AfricInvest helped create AVCA and that the association was "born in our offices." AVCA's recent Nairobi conference was oversubscribed: "At the last conference in Nairobi two weeks ago, organizers had to turn people away," he said, underlining the growing institutional interest.

Despite progress, Mebarek stressed the sector remains dependent on international institutional investors. "The past thirty years were first and foremost about building high‑quality teams across every part of the continent. But we are far from maturity, and far from having reduced our dependence on traditional investors," he told Ecofin Agency.

• Current private capital deployed across Africa: approximately $5 billion.
• AfricInvest footprint: 22 funds, $2 billion+ in assets, 170 investments across 25 countries.
• Comparative benchmark: $125 billion in private capital in Europe and the UK.

Private debt, social returns and mobilising capital

Mebarek argued that mobilising African savings will require awareness, track records, market liquidity and integration of private capital into institutional asset allocations. He highlighted a social‑value argument as part of the case for domestic investment: "For every dollar invested, the social return can reach $10, $15, $20, and in some cases up to $80," he said, adding that serious African institutions "cannot afford to ignore that."

On product diversification, Mebarek said private debt is now a structural feature of the continent's finance stack rather than a cyclical response to interest rates. AfricInvest launched one of the first African private debt funds around ten years ago and, according to Mebarek, the number of credible private debt players continues to grow. He emphasized that debt funds finance SMEs through capex and working capital and provide an alternative for family businesses reluctant to dilute ownership.

Outlook

Looking ahead, Mebarek set a pragmatic timetable: mobilising domestically sourced capital "will take years, perhaps decades," and progress must be steady rather than rushed. He urged African pension funds and other institutional investors to integrate private capital into diversification strategies incrementally, noting strong interest but a gap between stated intent and the allocations required. With the continent facing the challenge of creating roughly 2 million jobs a month — about 25 million a year — Mebarek framed private equity and private debt as tools to build jobs, sustainable businesses and measurable social returns.