Power financing must align with business off-take to unlock agro-processing — BOA MD

Financing energy projects across Africa in isolation from the commercial enterprises that consume and pay for power is fundamentally unsustainable, the Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Ayo Sotinrin, warned global stakeholders on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly.

Speaking during The Global African’s Grand Salon on Power for Productivity, Sotinrin joined international investors, energy developers, and industrial leaders to push for a coordinated approach to capital deployment across the continent. 

He emphasized that expanding electricity generation without concurrently establishing viable, paying off-takers leaves critical infrastructure vulnerable to underutilization and stranded capital.

The agro-allied sector demonstrates this tension most acutely. 

While agriculture forms the backbone of African economies, local value addition remains constrained because processing operations cannot scale without reliable, cost-effective power.

Conversely, utility-scale and decentralized energy projects require consistent, creditworthy commercial demand to sustain operations and de-risk investments.

To address this gap, Sotinrin urged financiers and development partners to bring energy planners and business operators into a unified funding framework. 

He maintained that the core objective must extend beyond installing megawatts to ensuring that power directly enables agricultural processing, strengthens domestic value chains, and increases the economic return on African commodities.