Speaking during a fireside chat at the 2025 Africa Investment Forum in Rabat, Brahim Benjelloun-Touimi, Chairman of the Casablanca Stock Exchange, delivered a clear and strategic message: Africa is not short on ideas – it’s short on fundable projects.
Drawing on his extensive experience, particularly from his role at BANK OF AFRICA, Benjelloun-Touimi addressed some of the continent’s most pressing investment challenges. His remarks focused on three critical themes: the need for better project preparation, long-term risk management, and the constructive role Moroccan banks are playing across Africa.
He began by emphasizing the increasing presence of Moroccan banks as long-term investors across strategic sectors such as food security, manufacturing, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, critical infrastructure, and energy. These banks are investing both in public and private projects with a strong emphasis on sustainability, and they’re not acting as outsiders—they’re building deep, local partnerships aimed at delivering lasting impact.
Yet the central issue, he argued, is not the availability of capital. The real bottleneck lies in the limited number of projects that reach the level of readiness that financial institutions require. While ideas are abundant across Africa, most initiatives still lack the structured, bankable profiles needed to attract serious investment.
“The challenge isn’t just raising funds,” he said. “It’s equipping project developers with the support and tools needed to turn their concepts into finance-ready ventures.” He stressed the importance of early-stage guidance – preparation mechanisms that help shape projects long before they reach the financing stage.
This challenge is particularly evident in large-scale infrastructure projects – new cities, transport networks, energy corridors. Private investment is growing in this space, but even when preparatory tools are in place, time remains a key variable. Developing projects to maturity takes sustained effort and patience.
Another major theme in his remarks was risk management. According to Benjelloun-Touimi, risk mitigation must be treated as a continuous and collective effort. “Risk is not static,” he explained. “It shifts, evolves, and requires ongoing reassessment. You can’t manage it from the top down or only at specific stages. It has to be integrated throughout the entire life cycle of the project.”
He called for stronger collaboration between developers, banks, investors, technical experts, and institutional partners to share responsibility and adapt strategies as conditions change. Increasingly, he noted, investors want to get involved early – at the pre-feasibility stage – so they can help shape the project’s risk profile from the ground up and align it with realistic financing requirements, all while accounting for local context.
Even mature projects, he pointed out, carry residual risks that must be addressed. This calls for tailored financial instruments – guarantees, concessional loans, blended finance tools, and risk-sharing mechanisms. Some risks extend beyond the project level and can only be addressed through coordinated action among multiple stakeholders and creative financial engineering.
He was clear that Moroccan banks do not approach the African market from a position of superiority. Instead, they act as long-term partners, working side by side with local stakeholders to co-develop robust, viable, and impactful projects. Their goal is not to take over but to complement local efforts with technical expertise, financing capabilities, and grounded experience.
Benjelloun-Touimi’s message resonated with the spirit of the Africa Investment Forum itself – a platform designed to turn ideas into actionable deals through collective commitment, practical tools, and shared accountability.
