Nigerian billionaire Adebayo Ogunlesi backs South Africa with $28 billion BlackRock infrastructure push

BlackRock manages $28 billion in South Africa assets. Nigerian billionaire Adebayo Ogunlesi wants that number to climb, and he told President Cyril Ramaphosa exactly what needs to happen to get there.

Ogunlesi made the remarks at the BlackRock South Africa Infrastructure Investment Summit in Cape Town, where he joined President Cyril Ramaphosa and global investors to discuss how private capital could finance large-scale infrastructure across the country. He chairs Global Infrastructure Partners, now part of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager with roughly $14 to $15 trillion under management.

His pitch was straightforward. South Africa has underinvested in the infrastructure that drives economic growth, and that gap is now an opportunity for long-term private capital. "We think that infrastructure in South Africa and indeed on the African continent as a whole is at an inflection point," he said.

Ogunlesi named electricity, ageing transport networks and inefficiencies in ports and rail as the biggest barriers to competitiveness. His position on power was blunt. "In the 21st century there simply is no excuse for unreliable electricity supply. Reliable and affordable energy is a foundation requirement for growth," he said.

He also pointed to digital infrastructure as a fast-growing demand driver. The global rise of artificial intelligence and cloud computing, he noted, would require major investment in data centers and power capacity.

He was equally clear about competition. South Africa is not the only destination bidding for global capital. It is competing directly against the US, Germany, GCC countries and Asian markets. Regulatory clarity, transparent procurement and stable policy frameworks, he said, are what determine where money flows.

Ramaphosa used the summit to lay out the scale of South Africa's investment drive. The country has attracted R1.5 trillion in commitments over the first five years of its investment programme launched in 2018. Last month's sixth South Africa Investment Conference delivered a record $54 billion in fresh pledges. The government has now set a new target of R3 trillion, roughly $180 billion, over the next five years.

Ramaphosa also confirmed a $500 million commitment BlackRock made to the African Infrastructure Fund III ahead of the summit, targeting energy systems, logistics corridors and transport infrastructure across the continent.

Ogunlesi, 71, built Global Infrastructure Partners into the world's largest independent infrastructure manager before BlackRock acquired it in a $12.5 billion deal in 2024. His net worth stands at approximately $2.4 billion. He joined the OpenAI board in January 2025.