Somali President, Former Nigerian President, HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II, CON and Chairman MSM Group Join U.S. Investors in New York to Ask Who Will Finance Africa’s Critical-Minerals Value Chain

Forum on the margins of UNGA 81 coincided with the launch of a UN mechanism to help resource-rich countries capture more value from energy-transition minerals

NEW YORK, Oct. 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- African heads of state, senior officials and U.S. capital-markets specialists met in New York on September 23 to take up a question the United Nations put on the global agenda that same day: who will finance the processing, refining and manufacturing that would let Africa capture more of the value from its critical minerals?

The Africa Critical Minerals Investor Forum, hosted by MSM Frontier Capital Acquisition Corporation, organized by AUM Advisors, at The St. Regis New York on the margins of the 81st UN General Assembly, brought together H.E. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of Somalia; H.E. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria, HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II, CON with investors, mining specialists, development-finance institutions and U.S. capital-markets professionals.

The forum, themed “From Mine to Markets: Financing Africa’s Critical Minerals Through U.S. Capital,” focused on an issue that has rapidly moved from a mining-sector conversation to a question of global economic strategy. A recurring theme was how African asset owners and operators can raise global capital without surrendering control of their assets.

Earlier that day, at the UN Climate Summit, Secretary-General António Guterres announced the Country Support Mechanism on Critical Energy Transition Minerals, designed to help resource-rich developing countries build sustainable, responsible and resilient mineral value chains and ensure that greater benefits reach the people and nations where those resources originate. Five of the first six partner countries are African (Guinea, Madagascar, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe), alongside Indonesia.

The UN has effectively put the question of who benefits from the global critical minerals boom on the international agenda.

The New York investor forum asked the next question: How does Africa finance the transformation?

Africa's position in the global critical-minerals economy is difficult to ignore.

The continent supplies approximately 75% of global manganese, 70% of cobalt and nearly 20% of copper, according to the International Energy Agency. Yet Africa captures less than 1% of the value generated from manufacturing clean-energy technologies and their components. That gap is becoming increasingly consequential.

Demand for the minerals underpinning batteries, electricity networks, renewable-energy systems and advanced technologies continues to grow, while global supply chains remain highly concentrated. The IEA reports that the average share of the top refining country across key energy minerals reached approximately 70% in 2025. The question, therefore, is no longer simply whether the world needs Africa's minerals. It is whether Africa can turn that global dependence into industrial power at home.

That means moving beyond extraction into processing, refining, manufacturing, logistics, energy and technology and developing African companies capable of competing for capital and markets globally. It was this gap between resource ownership and value-chain ownership that sat at the heart of the September 23 discussion.

Opening the forum, Muazzam Mairawani, Founder & Group Chairman of MSM Group and Chairman of MSM Frontier Capital Acquisition Corporation, argued that Africa's challenge is not a lack of investable opportunity. “Africa does not suffer from a shortage of opportunity. Africa suffers from a shortage of capital moving at the speed of opportunity.” His argument went directly to the question now confronting governments and investors: how can capital markets be structured to support projects large enough and long-term enough to transform natural-resource wealth into productive industries?

Through MSM Frontier Capital, Mairawani outlined an ambition to connect African opportunities with global institutional capital, strategic partners and development-finance institutions. But he cautioned against viewing critical minerals as a standalone opportunity. “Africa’s future will not be built by one sector. It will be built by an industrial ecosystem.”

Also participating were HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II, CON, 16th Emir of Kano and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria; Dr. Mansur Muhtar, Chairman of the Bank of Industry, former Minister of Finance of Nigeria and former Vice President of the Islamic Development Bank; and Dr. Issa Faye, Director General, Global Practices and Partnerships, Islamic Development Bank.

The program deliberately moved between the political, institutional and commercial dimensions of the investment challenge. A session on African country risk and the rule of law, featuring Amaka Anku, Director and Practice Head, Africa at Eurasia Group, examined political stability, contract enforceability and governance — the questions investors typically ask before committing capital. The discussion then moved directly into the mechanics of accessing U.S. markets.

Moderated by Crocker Coulson of AUM Advisors, the panel on “Financing the Pathway to U.S. Markets” featured:

• Joe Riggio, Founding Partner, Jett Capital Advisors
• Mitchell Nussbaum, Co-Chair, Loeb & Loeb LLP
• Patrick A. Sturgeon, Managing Partner, Brookline Capital Markets
• Dr. Gracelin Baskaran, Director, Critical Minerals Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
  
  

The discussion examined transaction structures, due diligence, governance requirements, legal considerations and the routes African companies can take to U.S. public markets. The underlying message was clear: Africa does not simply need more capital. It needs more investment-ready opportunities capable of absorbing capital responsibly and converting it into productive capacity.

A central theme was the merger with a U.S.-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) as a route for African asset owners and operators. Panelists discussed how such a combination can potentially give an African company access to global institutional capital while ownership and operating control remain in African hands and can help fund the processing and refining that keep more of the value in-country. That offers an alternative to the most common exit for promising African assets: an outright sale to a global mining major or a Chinese state-owned enterprise.

Dr. Baskaran described why infrastructure has become central to U.S. strategy on the continent. “A lot of African countries have a lot more untapped potential, but untapped potential requires the whole ecosystem of investment,” she said. “You can’t get a miner to go in and build the mine, the energy, the water, the road, the rail, the border.”

Pointing to U.S. support for the Lobito Corridor, she noted that such investment “is not important just for mining. It has a lot of knock-on benefits for sectors like agriculture and manufacturing. One of the things that gives it political longevity, despite changes in administrations on both sides, is making sure there are positive economic benefits that spill over. That is what common-use infrastructure does.”

She also pointed to soft power as one of the least-discussed benefits of a U.S. listing: “When it comes to dispute resolution, negotiations, the permit problem, that carries an enormous amount of weight, and we tend to back our American companies when it comes to those challenges.”

Africa's opportunity is not merely to become the world’s mine; it is to become a significant processor, manufacturer, investor, owner and exporter of higher-value products.

The September 23 forum therefore ended where the bigger global conversation is only beginning. Africa has the minerals. The world has the demand. The financial markets have the capital. What is needed now is the bridge between them. And the success of Africa's critical-minerals story may ultimately be measured not by how many tonnes leave African soil, but by how much value, industrial capacity and prosperity remain after they do.

As Mairawani put it: “The greatest investment story of the twenty-first century will not simply happen in Africa. It will be led by Africa.”

H.E. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, at the Africa Critical Minerals Investor Forum, The St. Regis New York, September 23, 2026. (Photo: Jackie Caceres / MSM Group)

H.E. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former President and former Military Head of State of Nigeria, at the Africa Critical Minerals Investor Forum, The St. Regis New York, September 23, 2026. (Photo: Jackie Caceres / MSM Group)

HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II, CON, 16th Emir of Kano and former Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, at the Africa Critical Minerals Investor Forum, The St. Regis New York, September 23, 2026. (Photo: Jackie Caceres / MSM Group)

Dr. Mansur Muhtar, Chairman, Bank of Industry; former Minister of Finance of Nigeria; former Vice President, Islamic Development Bank, at the Africa Critical Minerals Investor Forum, The St. Regis New York, September 23, 2026. (Photo: Jackie Caceres / MSM Group)

Dr. Issa Faye, Director General, Global Practices and Partnerships, Islamic Development Bank, at the Africa Critical Minerals Investor Forum, The St. Regis New York, September 23, 2026. (Photo: Jackie Caceres / MSM Group)

Tope Adedara, Group Managing Director and Muazzam Mairawani, Founder and Group Chairman, MSM Group at the Africa Critical Minerals Investor Forum, The St. Regis New York, September 23, 2026. (Photo: Jackie Caceres / MSM Group)

The Audience at the Africa Critical Minerals Investor Forum, The St. Regis New York, September 23, 2026. (Photo: Jackie Caceres / MSM Group)

ABOUT MSM FRONTIER CAPITAL ACQUISITION CORPORATION

MSM Frontier Capital Acquisition Corporation is focused on connecting African opportunities with U.S. and international capital markets, with an emphasis on natural resources, infrastructure, industrial development and long-term value creation across Africa.

ABOUT MSM GROUP

MSM Group is an African enterprise with interests spanning energy, agriculture, logistics, shipping, infrastructure and other strategic sectors. Through its expanding capital-markets activities, MSM seeks to connect transformational African opportunities with global institutional capital and strategic investment partners.

ABOUT AUM ADVISORS INC.

AUM Advisors Inc. is a New York-based capital-markets and investor-relations advisory firm that has worked on more than 100 IPOs and SPAC transactions, supporting companies and sponsors across public-market transactions, investor communications and strategic capital-markets initiatives.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Africa: Grace Gikonyo. Head of PR, MSM Group
Email: grace.gikonyo@maynetmarketing.com | Phone/WhatsApp: +254 (737) 948 142

Canada/Europe: Erika Enyolu
Email: eaestrategicgroup@gmail.com | Phone/WhatsApp: +1 (469) 569-1940

U.S: Crocker Coulson, Chief Executive Officer, AUM Advisors Inc.
Email: crocker.coulson@aumadvisors.com | Phone: +1 (646) 652-7185

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