The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) plans to expand its direct equity investments in Africa, including in critical minerals and associated infrastructure, as Washington seeks to diversify strategic supply chains and strengthen its economic partnerships across the continent.
Vibhuti Jain, the DFC’s regional managing director for Africa, told Reuters that the agency would increasingly consider taking ownership stakes in projects deemed strategically important, alongside or instead of its established financing instruments. These include loans, credit guarantees and political risk insurance.
“You will see us deploy equity in addition to or in place of other instruments,” Jain said, confirming that the agency was assessing potential investments in Africa’s critical minerals sector without identifying specific transactions.
The proposed expansion reflects the growing importance of minerals such as copper, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements to global industries, including electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, electronics and advanced manufacturing. It also forms part of wider international efforts to diversify supply chains that remain concentrated in a limited number of countries.
According to figures cited by the DFC, its investment commitments across Africa exceed $14bn, with more than $3bn allocated to critical minerals and related projects. Jain said the sector was receiving considerable attention as the agency considered new investment opportunities.
Direct equity participation would give the DFC a different relationship with the projects it supports. Unlike conventional lending, equity investment involves acquiring an ownership stake, potentially allowing the agency to share in a project’s financial returns and risks. However, the extent to which this approach will expand remains uncertain, with debt financing, guarantees and political risk insurance expected to remain central to its operations.
The agency’s interests extend beyond extraction to the infrastructure required to move resources from production centres to international markets. In September 2026, the DFC announced plans to invest up to $155m in WIOCC, an African digital infrastructure provider. Reuters reported that the transaction represented the agency’s largest equity commitment to date.
The investment illustrates the breadth of infrastructure the DFC considers strategically significant, encompassing digital connectivity as well as transport and mineral production.
One of its most prominent African projects is the Lobito Corridor, a regional transport initiative linking mineral-producing areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to Angola’s Atlantic coast, with plans for stronger connections to Zambia.
The DFC committed up to $553m to rehabilitate the Lobito Atlantic Railway and associated mineral port infrastructure in Angola. The project is intended to improve freight capacity, reduce transport costs and provide an additional export route for minerals from the region. The agency has projected that the investment could increase the railway’s transport capacity to 4.6 million tonnes annually.
For the DRC and Zambia, both major copper producers, more efficient transport links could improve access to international markets. Angola could benefit from increased port activity, employment and demand for local goods and services. The scale of these gains, however, will depend on implementation, commercial access, domestic procurement and the distribution of economic benefits across participating countries.
The wider implications extend beyond infrastructure and export volumes. Africa’s critical minerals sector presents an opportunity to strengthen industrial capacity, expand technical employment and develop regional manufacturing. Yet mineral wealth does not automatically translate into broad-based economic development.
The extent of local processing, the terms of investment agreements, taxation, environmental safeguards and the participation of domestic businesses will influence how much value producing countries retain. Without these considerations, increased extraction and exports may generate substantial commercial activity while leaving important parts of the value chain elsewhere.
The DFC’s expanding role also reflects the strategic interests shaping international investment. Washington views diversified mineral supplies as important to economic security and industrial competitiveness, particularly as major economies seek to reduce their exposure to concentrated supply chains. China remains a significant force in global mineral processing and associated infrastructure, contributing to competition over access to resources and markets.
For African governments, the challenge is to engage competing international partners on terms that advance national and regional development priorities. Access to additional financing can support infrastructure and industrial expansion, but its long-term value will depend on the quality of project agreements and the capacity of governments to negotiate for domestic economic benefits.
As the DFC considers greater use of equity financing, the central question for African economies is not simply how much capital the agency deploys. It is whether the resulting investments strengthen productive capacity, support regional integration and enable African countries to capture a greater share of the value generated by their natural resources.
