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At the Africa CEO Forum in 2024, a striking question echoed across boardrooms and policy circles: Is Africa on the menu, on the table, or should it build its own table? The metaphor captured a growing continental awakening. In a world where global financial decisions are largely made elsewhere, Africa’s development priorities too often remain shaped by systems not designed in its interest.That question resurfaced powerfully in Kigali on Friday, as African Ambassadors, senior United Nations officials, and business leaders convened for the Africa Strategic Investment Alliance (ASIA) Ambassadors’ Roundtable. Their message was clear: Africa’s time has come not only to sit at global tables, but to design its own—by building a financing architecture that serves its enterprises, its youth, and its future.The high-level dialogue brought together diplomats accredited to Rwanda, the UN system, and the leadership of AeTrade Group and Africa Strategic Investment Alliance (ASIA) to confront a structural reality. While global assets now exceed USD 420 trillion, less than four per cent are invested in developing economies. For Africa, this imbalance has produced a chronic MSME financing gap of more than USD 300 billion annually, leaving the vast majority of small businesses excluded from formal credit and unable to scale under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).Opening the meeting, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Rwanda Dr. Ozonnia Ojielo noted that Africa’s development challenge is not a lack of ideas, talent, or markets, but a global financing system that misprices African risk and underinvests in its productive sectors.“The future of development will be determined not by who provides financing, but by how financing is structured and deployed,” he said, calling for innovative partnerships between governments, continental institutions, the UN, and the private sector to align trade, finance, and logistics for large-scale job creation.At the centre of the discussions was the ASIA: a new African-owned platform designed to mobilise, deploy, and recycle capital for MSMEs, with a focus on youth and women, and to translate AfCFTA and Agenda 2063 commitments into bankable investment and enterprise growth.During the meeting AeTrade Group CEO Mr. Mulualem Syoum announced the appointment of H.E. Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa, former Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission and former Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, as Chairperson of ASIA. He described the Alliance as a practical continental financing architecture, built to move Africa from fragmented interventions to coordinated, scalable solutions.In her keynote address, Dr. Nsanzabaganwa framed ASIA as Africa’s strategic response to a global investment paradox: abundant capital worldwide, but limited, expensive, and short-term financing for African businesses.“Global finance is not neutral. It is structured to favour mature markets and low-risk environments,” she said. “If Africa is to industrialise, create jobs and trade with itself under AfCFTA, it must build institutions that mobilise patient capital for productive enterprise, not speculation.”She outlined ASIA’s three pillars: financing the real economy, placing women and youth at the centre of transformation, and building strong, credible institutions capable of turning ambition into measurable impact. Member States, she stressed, are being invited to join not as beneficiaries, but as co-owners shaping governance, capitalisation, and strategic direction.The Roundtable reviewed ASIA’s roadmap toward full operationalisation in 2026, including the establishment of its headquarters in Rwanda, regional hubs in Ethiopia and Eswatini, and a three-country pilot to roll out short-term, cash-flow-based digital financing for MSMEs through a revolving capital model. By recycling funds several times a year, the model aims to dramatically expand reach while reducing reliance on sovereign borrowing and traditional aid.ASIA will be anchored in AeTrade Group’s integrated digital ecosystem, linking finance, logistics, payments, and market access platforms such as Sokokuu. Africa to enable African enterprises to trade, scale, and compete across borders.Ambassadors welcomed the initiative and engaged in governance, risk management, AfCFTA alignment, and concrete delivery for women and youth as entrepreneurs. Several countries expressed early interest in founding membership and bilateral follow-up.Closing the session, H.E. Doudou Sow, Ambassador of Senegal and Dean of the African Ambassadors in Rwanda, urged colleagues to brief their capitals and consider formal commitments, noting that Africa’s MSME financing gap is structural and cannot be closed by external instruments alone.Building on the question posed at the 2024 Africa CEO Forum, “menu, table, or own table,e” this conversation provided a strategic platform for reflection and debate. As global financing architectures continue to evolve in ways that insufficiently serve Africa’s development and integration ambitions, the continent is increasingly determined to design and anchor its own solutions. Africa’s pivot is not about disengaging from the global system, but about engaging it on stronger, more equal terms through institutions, capital, and policy frameworks conceived, governed, and driven by Africa, for Africa.