At-a-Glance
Across Sub-Saharan Africa, we are lifting people out of poverty by expanding access to electricity, water, and digital technology; boosting the skills, health, and resilience of the continent’s people, especially the youth and most vulnerable; and supporting inclusive governance, effective domestic resource mobilization, and transforming economies.
In fiscal 2025, the World Bank approved $26.2 billion for 183 operations in the region, including $3.8 billion in IBRD commitments and $22.4 billion in IDA commitments. IFC committed $11.2 billion across Africa, and MIGA issued $1 billion in guarantees. 木瓜影院 Group Guarantee Platform wrote commitments of $2.5 billion.
Sub-Saharan Africa: Building the Foundation for Jobs
By 2050, one in three young people in the world will live in Sub-Saharan Africa, creating an acute need for jobs. Adding to the challenge is that fewer than 6 percent of students in Africa choose to specialize in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics—the very areas of expertise that are in demand among employers.
The African Centers of Excellence (ACE) program aims to correct this imbalance by creating sustainable bridges between universities, businesses, and public services. Since 2014, the World Bank has invested $657 million in ACEs and provided technical assistance to more than 50 universities across 20 countries in Africa—because education and skills training are core components of the first pillar of our job-creation strategy.
Over the past 11 years, ACEs have empowered more than 92,000 students to enroll in higher education programs across Africa, including 7,750 PhDs and 30,400 master’s students. More than 18,600 students have participated in industry internships to enhance their employment prospects. Beyond creating skilled workers for today’s job market, ACEs are also preparing students for the jobs of the future: In Nigeria, Senegal, and Rwanda, educators are integrating artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things into academic curricula.
ACE’s goal of training a new generation of researchers and engineers—locally and in good conditions—is taking shape.
Tanzania: Boosting Local Employment
Tanzania’s KIOO, the largest glass maker in East Africa, produces about 1 million bottles a day from furnaces that burn around the clock. Yet demand for its bottles outstrips supply.
An IFC loan of up to $45 million is helping to ramp up production while creating more jobs. This financing follows earlier IFC support, including a $10 million loan made in 2021 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. That financial backing has allowed KIOO to grow its business. Today, the company exports to more than 100 customers in 14 countries in East and Southern Africa. It is one of Tanzania’s biggest private sector companies, employing more than 600 people directly and supporting about 2,000 indirect jobs.
For KIOO, business success and sustainability go together. Once the supply of sand is exhausted from its quarries, for example, the company plants trees and other vegetation. Its glass bottles are equal to standards set in Europe or North America, meaning they can be collected, washed, sterilized, and used repeatedly.
With demand for glass bottles expected to grow by 10 percent annually in Tanzania over the next five years, KIOO is set to expand further, generating local employment and quenching the thirst of millions of customers across the region.
Benin: Strengthening Private Sector-Led Growth
Despite persistent regional security challenges, Benin’s growth is robust, driven by sub-sectors such as agro-industry, construction, and trade.
Yet an underdeveloped formal private sector and limited use of modern technologies have constrained growth prospects. Benin also remains vulnerable to external shocks, which undermine domestic revenue mobilization, create uncertainty in market expectations, impair capital accumulation, and limit social protection and welfare. Disaster and weather-related shocks also pose a major challenge to sustainable social and economic development.
A $221.5 million equivalent Policy-Based Guarantee issued by IDA helped Benin raise $550 million equivalent in commercial financing. It was the first IDA guarantee approved since the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform was launched in July 2024.
The program consists of three pillars that aim to boost private sector growth, strengthen resilience to extreme weather events, and improve domestic revenue mobilization. Through this program, the share of poor and extremely poor people benefiting from subsidized health coverage will increase from less than 1 percent to 15 percent by 2026. Approximately $6.4 million will be available in new lending to small businesses, and public revenue increases will allow Benin to expand investments in development programs while maintaining fiscal responsibility.
Mission 300
Mission 300 is an ambitious initiative launched by the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank, and partners to connect 300 million people in Africa to electricity by 2030.
Launched in April 2024, Mission 300 brings together governments, the private sector, development institutions, and philanthropies to deliver reliable, affordable power to households and communities; improve utility performance; attract private investment; and expand sustainable regional electricity production. By tackling the continent’s energy access gap, Mission 300 underpins Africa’s jobs agenda and lays the foundation for future development.
The Africa Energy Summit, held in Tanzania in January 2025, showcased unprecedented support for Mission 300. Heads of State committed to key energy sector reforms, 12 African countries unveiled their national energy compacts, and partners—led by the World Bank Group—pledged more than $50 billion toward Africa’s energy transformation.