Development Finance, Advisory and Research Leaders Join Power Africa Today at AEW 2026

The institutional architecture around African power investment has grown considerably more sophisticated in recent years, with multilateral lenders, specialised blended finance vehicles, global law firms and energy research houses all playing active roles in how projects are structured, financed and brought to market.

Speakers confirmed for the Power Africa Today conference during African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 in Cape Town, October 12-16, represent the complete investment ecosystem at work across the continent.

The World Bank's role in shaping Africa's power investment landscape is well established, and Infrastructure Program Leader Mirlan Aldayarov joins Power Africa Today as the institution expands its energy sector engagement.

Aldayarov, a senior energy specialist who leads investment operations within the Bank's Energy and Extractives Global Practice, was closely involved in the $1.5 billion development policy loan approved for South Africa in July 2026 to support electricity sector reforms and grid governance. His participation at the conference connects the multilateral financing agenda to the national-level reforms being discussed across the programme.

The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), where Carol Koech serves as Vice President for Africa, has emerged as one of the more active mobilizers of blended finance for electrification and renewables on the continent.

GEAPP and its partners have raised $100 million in funding directed toward Mission 300, the World Bank-led effort to connect 300 million people across Africa to electricity by the end of the decade. Koech, who joined GEAPP in August 2025 after leading Schneider Electric's East Africa business, brings two decades of experience in energy access and private-sector transformation to the Power Africa Today lineup.

Closer to the project level, Mphokolo Makara, CEO of the SA-H2 Fund managed by Climate Fund Managers and Invest International, represents the next generation of blended finance vehicles targeting African energy infrastructure.

The fund, which targets $1 billion in green hydrogen investment in South Africa, recently backed the development of the country's first wastewater-to-green-methanol facility and previously committed $20 million to the Hive Hydrogen Coega green ammonia project. Makara's presence at Power Africa Today brings the green hydrogen financing discussion into a broader conversation about how blended finance can unlock capital for emerging energy technologies.

South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) adds a domestic DFI perspective. Nina Yose, Acting Divisional Executive for Mining, Metals, Infrastructure and Energy, joins the conference as the IDC continues to finance energy and infrastructure projects across the country, including through the Junior Mining Exploration Fund that she oversees.

The IDC's role in channeling public capital into projects that are not yet fully commercially bankable complements the multilateral and private capital represented elsewhere on the lineup.

Rounding out the group from the advisory and research side, John Ngunjiri, an Associate in Norton Rose Fulbright's energy and infrastructure M&A practice and a member of the African Energy Chamber's Advisory Board, brings legal and transactional expertise.

Norton Rose Fulbright, ranked in Band 1 for Africa-wide projects and energy by Chambers Global in 2026, advises on the deal structures and project finance arrangements that underpin large-scale African energy investments. Silvia Macri, Associate Director for Power and Renewables Research at S&P Global Energy, also joins the lineup with more than 12 years of coverage across African and Middle Eastern energy markets.

Says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber, “The speakers at Power Africa Today reflect the full chain of expertise needed to get African power projects built – from the DFIs structuring the risk to the lawyers closing the deals to the analysts pricing the market.”

Power Africa Today brings together policymakers, utilities, investors and developers to address the regulatory, financial and infrastructural challenges of building interconnected electricity markets across the continent.

The conference takes place as part of AEW 2026 at CTICC 1 in Cape Town from October 12-16.