Construction of a 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery near Lamu, Kenya’s second deep-water port, is due to begin Wednesday, while local residents challenge the project at Kenya’s High Court. Aliko Dangote says the refinery will cost $16 billion, and regional governments have been offered a 30% stake. The project places governments, investors and a major private company at the center of decisions about land, infrastructure and regional energy.
Who Gets to Build
Kenya and Rwanda are among the governments considering investments in the Lamu project. Dangote said governments could spread payments for their equity stakes over four years. Rwanda has sought a 10% stake, a request that remains under discussion. Other countries have expressed interest, too, though Dangote didn’t name them.
The refinery is expected to source crude from regional producers, including Kenya, which is seeking to begin production from its own deposits, as well as suppliers in the Middle East and the United States. Pipelines will run from Lamu into one or two countries in the region. The project is also expected to support industries such as petrochemicals.
Conservationists and local residents have challenged the project. Dangote rejected criticism, saying opponents included traders whose businesses would be disrupted. “Everybody is saying that ‘no, we have a way that we used to make money without working hard.’ But right now, they will make money still, but they have to work hard,” he said. Residents have taken their challenge to the High Court, the clearest account in the report of people contesting the project through their own action; the article provides no direct quote from them.
Dangote’s Lagos refinery is also seeking capital through a $1.6 billion initial public offering, launched earlier in September to fund a doubling of capacity to 1.4 billion barrels per day. Marketed as a “people’s IPO,” it would be Africa’s largest. The offer is scheduled to close on October 13. Dangote’s lead financial advisers have underwritten $400 million, and the offering could raise as much as $2.1 billion if oversubscribed.
Demand disrupted some financial technology platforms as investors tried to buy shares. Bamboo, a platform focused on retail investors, recorded a 350% surge in new accounts in the week before the offering opened, with an even higher rate after launch, chief executive Richmond Bassey said. “We expected a wave of retail demand in the IPO, but in reality, it’s been more like a tsunami,” he told Reuters. Dangote called demand “enormous,” but gave no specific figures.
States, Banks and the Capital Bottleneck
Egyptian officials estimate Egypt’s investments across Africa at around $14 billion, including Tanzania’s $3 billion Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project, built by a consortium led by Egyptian companies. Cairo plans to host the inaugural three-day Alamein Africa Forum on Friday, with more than 20 heads of state and government representatives expected alongside business leaders, bankers and development institutions. Egypt hopes to bolster its influence on the continent and rally support in its dispute with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Trade within Africa totalled $192 billion in 2023, about 15% of the continent’s total trade. Africa attracted about $70 billion in foreign direct investment in 2025, compared with roughly $1.6 trillion invested globally, according to the UN. At the 81st United Nations General Assembly, United Bank for Africa Group Managing Director/CEO Oliver Alawuba called for fewer regulatory and currency barriers. “What we need to do for capital to flow is to bring down the walls,” he said. He also described how a Kenyan tea farmer selling to Ghana may have to go through the dollar, calling that difficult.
Alawuba said UBA had about $30 billion in total assets, a presence in 20 African countries, and currency risks that could make it difficult to bring capital back. He said the bank had an agreement with the African Continental Free Trade Area for a $6 billion fund to support SMEs, and that payment systems remained a hurdle. The bank also met with World Bank Group President Ajay Banga about long-term capital for infrastructure, energy, agribusiness, SMEs and regional trade.
South Africa’s foreign direct investment inflows rose to 49.8 billion rand ($3.03 billion) in the second quarter of 2026, from 20.3 billion rand in the previous quarter, the South African Reserve Bank said. A local telecommunications company received debt funding from a non-resident parent company, driving the increase. The bank didn’t name the company because the transaction wasn’t public. Portfolio investment, meanwhile, shifted to an outflow of 9.0 billion rand. The figures trace capital moving through institutions and corporate balance sheets; residents’ challenge to the Lamu megaproject remains before the High Court.