Countries, corporations, and societies now have increased agency to pursue multiple global partnerships to advance their strategic interests in trade, technology, climate, security and other fields. Power is dispersing, supply chains are shifting, and the assumptions that shaped global trade for decades are being challenged and rewritten. In this new geopolitical environment, wisdom - and not necessarily speed or scale - has become the defining attribute of strong leadership.
Africa has historically been treated as a peripheral actor rather than an active shaper of global geopolitical dynamics. From colonial resource extraction to being a battleground for Cold War proxy wars, through decades as a major aid recipient, the continent has rarely occupied the driver's seat of the global economy. However, in an increasingly multipolar world, Africa has a chance to flip the script and become one of the central architects of a new world order.
Africa House at Davos exists because this brave new world will not be shaped by those who merely react to change, but by those who anticipate it, design the systems through which value flows, and claim their rightful place in the architecture of the global economy. In 2026 the African imperative is clear: the continent must move from extractive models to fairer models built on shared prosperity and mutual respect between partners.
