Speaking at Calcalist’s Forecasts Conference, Haim Taib — President and Founder of Mitrelli Group and the Israel-Africa Institute — laid out the case for Africa as a strategic destination that belongs at the center of investor and policymaker agendas. With the IMF projecting Africa’s economy to surpass $3 trillion as early as 2026, and roughly 60% of the continent’s 1.4 billion people under the age of 25, the demographic and economic trajectory points to a generational opportunity that few global markets can match.
The centerpiece of the address was a new $1 billion international investment platform tied to the Lobito Corridor — the transcontinental infrastructure project linking the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, which has already drawn more than $4 billion in U.S. investment. The platform, launched together with Angola’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, will focus on developing new cities, industry, and agriculture along a corridor that serves approximately 40 million people. Taib also issued a candid warning about Israel’s diminishing footprint on the continent at a moment when the UAE, the E.U., the U.S., and China are dramatically expanding theirs.
Drawing on 34 years of on-the-ground experience — including Mitrelli’s role in connecting roughly 15 million people across Africa to modern healthcare and 1.6 million to electricity, alongside the Aldeia Nova project and the development of 17 new cities — Taib’s message was a call to action grounded in delivery, not theory.