President William Ruto is set to depart the country for Kigali, Rwanda, to participate in the Africa CEO Forum 2026.
In a statement on Wednesday, May 13, the organisation said discussions are expected to focus on financing Africa’s development, industrialisation, and intra-African trade.
The Forum noted that Ruto's participation comes days after he co-hosted the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.
"Just days ago in Nairobi, co-hosting the Africa Forward Summit alongside President Emmanuel Macron, Kenya's Head of State drew a line under decades of donor logic and called for something far more ambitious: an Africa that finances Africa.
"He pointed to over 4 trillion dollars in long-term domestic savings already sitting on the continent, including more than 1 trillion in pension and insurance assets and over 500 billion dollars in central bank reserves, and asked the only question that matters. Why are these resources still waiting for someone else's permission to build the continent?" the statement read.
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The Forum highlighted Kenya’s infrastructure financing strategy under Ruto’s administration, saying he was championing new approaches aimed at attracting private investment into key sectors.
"His answer is structural. Through Kenya's National Infrastructure Fund, already capitalised at around 1 billion dollars, he is testing a model designed to crowd private capital into the corridors, ports, energy systems and digital backbones that will turn the AfCFTA from protocol into market. The thesis is unambiguous: 'Africa cannot trade effectively with itself while its economies remain disconnected'," the statement added.
The Africa CEO Forum also linked Ruto’s development agenda to broader continental goals including green industrialisation, digital transformation and climate financing reforms.
"In Kigali, that same conviction lands at the heart of the Africa CEO Forum 2026 conversation, where pan-African ownership, green industrialisation and the mobilisation of domestic capital are no longer side debates but the main stage. From the Silicon Savannah he has helped engineer to the climate finance reform he has pushed through every multilateral forum that will listen, President Ruto embodies a generation of African leadership that has stopped asking and started building," the statement further read.
The Forum added that Ruto's presence at the high-level presidential panel would shape conversations on Africa’s economic future over the next two days.
"His presence on the presidential panel sets the tone for two days that will define how the continent moves from 4 trillion dollars in potential to 4 trillion dollars in motion," the statement concluded.
The Africa CEO Forum is regarded as the largest annual gathering of private-sector leaders in Africa.
It was founded in 2012 by the Jeune Afrique Media Group in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), with the aim of creating a high-level platform where business leaders and policymakers can engage on Africa’s economic future.
The forum brings together chief executives, investors, heads of state, government ministers, and development finance institutions from across Africa and beyond.
Its core purpose is to strengthen the continent’s private sector by encouraging dialogue between governments and businesses, unlocking investment opportunities, and shaping policies that support sustainable economic growth and industrial development across African economies.
