Africa: A Network That Never Asks for Money Moved $100 Million Last Year

What the report says

In an interview for the RootsToFoods Capital Series, Michael Meehan, founder of the Forum for Impact and former chief executive of the Global Reporting Initiative, argued that financial “corridors” are not created from nothing but identified and then organized. The discussion, published by AllAfrica and recorded as part of Wave 2 of the series, centered on how trusted networks can help move capital between regions, including Gulf, European, and East and Central African markets.

Meehan said the Forum for Impact now links more than 1,000 family offices, high-net-worth investors, and institutional leaders across nine countries. According to the article, the network does not solicit funds or make pitches, but uses peer-to-peer matching to connect people already working on similar themes. The piece says that approach helped mobilize about $100 million within the network last year.

The interview also highlighted broader obstacles to investment deployment, especially trust, transparency, and the difficulty of coordinating smaller deals in non-OECD markets. Meehan pointed to examples involving climate and sustainability financing, along with gaps in blended finance, to show why capital can remain unused even when interest exists. As background, the article situates this work within wider debates over impact investing and cross-border capital flows, particularly in Africa.