Gulf Investors Fast Track African Industrialization

The traditional “extract and export” model that has long dominated Africa’s mining sector is facing a strategic overhaul as Gulf investors and logistics hubs position themselves as the continent’s preferred partners.

During a panel session at Breakbulk Middle East, moderator Rafael Vicens, vice president IMEA at Maersk Project Logistics, highlighted that while Africa holds 30% of global mineral reserves, including 60% of the world's cobalt, a critical lack of inland infrastructure and downstream processing continues to bottleneck growth.

The consensus among the speakers was that Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are no longer acting merely as transit points, but as the essential bridge providing the capital, specialized infrastructure and “know-how” required to unlock landlocked mineral wealth.

Panelists argued that Gulf sovereign wealth funds are uniquely positioned to de-risk complex African projects that traditional Western lenders might avoid due to high political or logistical hurdles. By investing in infrastructure that serves not just mines, but also local agriculture and general trade, Gulf partners are fostering a model of “shared prosperity.”

“I clearly see the African Gulf partnership,” said Ankush Vohra, head of business development and commercial at RAK Ports. “There is a lot of confidence in the African investor to come and take help or to work with the Gulf investors. They do not see the Gulf investors as come, take and go.”

The technical requirements for this transition are also shifting the demands on the project cargo sector. Modern mining operations increasingly rely on modular construction, requiring ports and free zones that can handle massive, specialized components.

The discussion emphasized that successful logistics must be a “two-way street” that reduces inbound shipping costs for essential goods like healthcare and education materials, integrated with the outbound flow of minerals.

“They need bridging funds, often from sovereign wealth funds and development institutions to make projects happen,” said Mohamedou Abeih, executive director at Maurilog.

“I think the design should be step-by-step whereby initially the value creation would be simply by export where the Gulf investors and logistics supply chain would bring trust, the QAQC (quality assurance and quality control) and the staging areas also for the project and mining. And also fund the inventory, the working capital basically for these mines.

“But later on they should be funding also these industrial zones in Africa which will be beneficial to the communities, which will be again refining, transformation and testing.”