Connecting research, infrastructure leadership and global investment partnerships to help shape a connected African infrastructure system.
A farmer’s harvest cannot sustain a livelihood if it never reaches the market. A factory cannot expand without dependable electricity. A clinic cannot fulfil its purpose without water, power and access.
Behind every infrastructure promise are people waiting for something to change.
African Infrastructure Exchange—AIX Africa—places these outcomes at the centre of its mission: to identify what infrastructure is needed, where it is needed, what value it can unlock and which partners can help deliver it.
AIX connects multidisciplinary research, leadership intelligence and global investment conversations to investigate the gap between infrastructure ambition and productive economic activity.
“Infrastructure carries a promise—to households, businesses and future generations,” says Arthur Quphe, host of AIX Africa’s The Delivery Gap. “Our purpose is to examine what prevents that promise from becoming reality, establish what the evidence supports and mobilise the partners needed to advance credible solutions.”
The Delivery Gap: infrastructure leaders shaping the research agenda
AIX’s The Delivery Gap engages infrastructure leaders across the continent and internationally—including mining CEOs, investors, developers, operators, engineers, researchers and public decision-makers.
The conversations investigate infrastructure constraints, economic opportunities and the institutional conditions shaping delivery. They bring operational experience into a research process that examines why projects stall, why assets underperform and what enables investment to generate lasting value.
For participating executives, the proposition is practical: contribute first-hand knowledge of the constraints affecting investment and growth, and help frame questions that merit deeper investigation and partner engagement.
A mining operation’s expansion, for example, may depend on power availability, water security, railway capacity or port access. Examining those dependencies can reveal opportunities for shared infrastructure serving multiple operations, industries and communities.
“A leadership conversation can reveal a constraint that deserves serious investigation,” Quphe says. “Its value grows when we test the evidence, understand the wider system and identify who can help move a viable solution forward.”
AIX ISET6: from leadership insight to investment intelligence
AIX structures its investigations through AIX ISET6, its six-step research framework:
- Hypothesis development: Define the economic opportunity, infrastructure constraint and questions to be tested.
- Evidence construction: Assemble relevant statistics, project records, technical information and economic data, identifying gaps and limitations.
- Interviews: Investigate the questions with infrastructure leaders, specialists and affected stakeholders.
- Post-interview triangulation: Test interview claims against documentary evidence, independent data and specialist analysis, recording corroboration, contradictions and uncertainty.
- Systems mapping: Examine relationships between infrastructure networks, institutions, markets, financing and delivery responsibilities to identify dependencies and potential interventions.
- Index creation: Develop and test indices that communicate infrastructure performance, readiness, delivery constraints and economic conversion, informing investment priorities and partner selection.
The framework connects conversations with structured investigation. Interview testimony informs the research; published findings distinguish verified evidence from estimates, assumptions and unresolved questions.
Academic collaboration and multidisciplinary expertise
AIX’s approach brings together industry expertise, engineering, science, statistics, econometrics, policy, leadership and governance.
Collaboration with academic and research institutions strengthens research design, data-quality assessment, methodological testing and independent scrutiny.
Engineering helps establish technically workable options. Statistics supports reliable measurement. Econometrics examines economic relationships and attribution. Policy and governance analysis investigate whether institutional arrangements support implementation. Industry expertise grounds the work in commercial and operating realities.
“Reliable intelligence must withstand challenge,” Quphe says. “The value of academic and industry collaboration lies in improving the evidence, testing our assumptions and making conclusions more useful for decisions.”
Starting with economic opportunity and public need
AIX’s country-level research agenda spans Africa’s 54 United Nations member states, examining opportunities within countries and the connections between them.
The approach begins with the economy of a place: its enterprises, resources, workforce, existing assets, markets and social needs. It investigates what prevents that potential from becoming sustained productive activity and dependable services.
The appropriate intervention may involve maintenance, rehabilitation, improved network connections, expanded capacity or new infrastructure. It may also require institutional coordination, policy changes or better operating arrangements.
Assessments consider demand, indicative lifecycle costs, economic and social outcomes, environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, funding options, delivery responsibilities and project preparation requirements. Renewable and other alternative energy options are examined where they can strengthen reliability, affordability and productive capacity.
Measuring how investment converts into value
AIX’s research agenda includes the development and testing of an Infrastructure Investment–Economic Conversion Ratio:
Economic Conversion Ratio = Present value of additional economic value added attributable to infrastructure ÷ Present value of infrastructure lifecycle costs.
The proposed measure examines additional economic value relative to infrastructure expenditure over a defined assessment period, compared with what would likely happen without the investment.
It sits alongside separate measures of service access, reliability, affordability, social outcomes and the distribution of benefits. Essential infrastructure must also be assessed against the public needs it serves.
Country comparisons require consistent definitions, transparent assumptions and explicit recognition of differences in economic structure and data quality.
Indices that inform investment and partner selection
AIX’s proposed indices help organise evidence around questions that matter to governments, project owners and investors: where constraints are most significant, which opportunities warrant further preparation and what capabilities are needed to advance them.
Combined with project-level assessment, these findings help identify suitable partner profiles—from project preparation funders and development financiers to commercial lenders, developers, engineering specialists and operators.
Partner selection considers investment mandates, sector experience, geography, project readiness, risk appetite and delivery requirements. Indices support that assessment alongside detailed project due diligence.
“The purpose of measurement is to improve decisions,” Quphe says. “We want evidence to clarify where investment could make a meaningful difference and which partners are suited to helping it succeed.”
Global conversations, practical partnerships
AIX connects its research and interview programme with global conversations involving infrastructure investors, development financiers, industry specialists and delivery partners.
For mining companies and other productive sectors, the focus includes power, water, transport, logistics and digital dependencies, together with opportunities for shared infrastructure.
For governments, it includes investment prioritisation, public asset development, regional coordination and partnerships aligned with public objectives.
For investors, it offers a structured examination of demand, ownership, preparation status, financing requirements, potential payment mechanisms and unresolved risks.
AIX welcomes engagement and portfolio submissions from project owners globally where opportunities have identifiable relevance to African investment and delivery. Submitted information is subject to screening and verification; inclusion does not constitute investment endorsement.
AIX’s verification approach emphasises traceable sources, dated records, disclosed uncertainties and transparent corrections. Announcements, financing commitments, construction progress and operational performance are treated as distinct milestones.
Public understanding depends on knowing what has been promised, what has been funded, what has been delivered and what is functioning.
The 2027 Summit
AIX’s interviews, country-level research, academic collaboration and global investment conversations form an evidence-building programme informing its 2027 summit.
The summit is designed to bring governments, asset owners, investors, developers, operators, engineers and researchers together around findings and screened opportunities.
Its intended outputs include investment priorities, defined preparation requirements, suitable partnerships and named responsibilities for follow-through.
“The work begins before leaders enter the room and continues after they leave,” Quphe says. “The measure of success is whether the evidence and relationships help worthwhile opportunities advance.”
Africa’s potential crosses borders. Its infrastructure must connect across them too.
National investment is essential, but planning infrastructure in isolation can constrain economic opportunities that depend on regional connections.
Mineral resources may require electricity from one country, rail connections across another and access to a coastal port. Agriculture and manufacturing depend on connected water, power, transport and digital networks linking producers to markets.
AIX brings together data science, engineering, economic research and investment intelligence to help shape a connected African infrastructure system. Through ISET6, leadership engagement, academic collaboration and global partnerships, it identifies missing connections, examines viable interventions and mobilises relevant capabilities.
“Africa’s resources become lasting prosperity when infrastructure connects them to productive industries, competitive markets and opportunity for people,” Quphe says.
“Our purpose is to connect evidence with investment, countries with markets and resources with productive economies—helping shape an African infrastructure system that works across borders and delivers value in people’s lives.”
About AIX Africa
African Infrastructure Exchange (AIX Africa) is an infrastructure intelligence and advisory platform connecting research, infrastructure leadership and global investment partnerships. Through The Delivery Gap, its six-step ISET6 research framework, and collaboration with academic, industry, and investment partners, AIX investigates infrastructure opportunities and constraints, develops decision-support indicators, and mobilises partners to help advance a connected African infrastructure system.
For Media Enquiries:
Contact: Ruth Dlamini
Cell: +27 76 728 2224
