04/06/2026
At The Africa Debate 2026, Ana Hajduka, our Founder and CEO of Africa GreenCo, joined a panel that put those tensions on the table rather than around them.
Ana focused her remarks on the panel discussing the reimagining of energy systems, arguing that the way financiers assess and allocate risk must evolve alongside the transformation of Africa’s power sector. She noted that much of the current financing discourse remains centered on single projects and single off-takers, despite the emergence of increasingly interconnected national and regional electricity markets.
Calling on lenders, development finance institutions, and investors to move beyond a siloed project-by-project approach, Ana further highlighted the importance of recognising the market architecture that is already in operation across the continent. Pointing to established platforms such as the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), as well as South Africa’s ongoing transition towards the South African Wholesale Electricity Market (SAWEM), she stressed that the sector is moving towards increasingly dynamic, interconnected and competitive market structures.
To illustrate the gap between perception and reality, Ana asked the audience how many were aware that a liquid regional electricity market already exists where power can be bought and sold on an hourly basis. Only three hands were raised. Yet this is precisely the market in which GreenCo operates every day, trading power across the Southern African region and helping unlock flexibility, liquidity and resilience across interconnected energy systems.
As regional power pools, cross-border transmission networks and wholesale electricity markets continue to expand and mature, Ana argued that financing frameworks should increasingly support and bank system-wide connectivity, market integration and portfolio resilience, rather than viewing projects in isolation.
“The conversation can no longer be limited to the bankability of individual assets alone,” she argued. “We need to start thinking about the bankability of national and regional energy systems, and the interconnected markets that underpin them. Financing approaches must evolve to recognise and support the value of connectivity, flexibility and system-wide resilience in markets that are already operating today through regional integration enabled by SAPP, and in the new market architectures being established through initiatives such as SAWEM.”
Special appreciation to all the panelists: Hon. Sihle Zikalala, Deputy Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Republic of South Africa; Olukorede (K.O) Adenowo FCA, FCIB, CEO of FirstBank UK Limited; and Kola Karim, Group Managing Director and CEO of Shoreline Energy International. The questions you raised are the ones worth carrying forward.
