Carousel Finance is currently engaged in a series of high-level strategic meetings in the United Arab Emirates, aimed at advancing the development of a major industrial hub in Angola. These discussions bring together public authorities and strategic partners in Abu Dhabi around a shared objective: structuring long-term industrial capacity anchored in value creation, regional integration, and economic sovereignty.
The initiative is built on a clear industrial rationale. Accelerating local processing of agricultural and petroleum products is essential to strengthening domestic value chains and capturing greater economic value within Angola. At the same time, the structuring of reliable, transparent supply chains for critical minerals has become a strategic priority for the United States, Europe, and Gulf countries, particularly in the context of the global energy transition. This ambition is pursued with a firm commitment to ensuring that industrial development primarily benefits the Angolan population.
As Jafar Hilali, President of Carousel Finance, underlined during these engagements:
“Our objective is not simply to finance infrastructure, but to help structure industrial ecosystems that are resilient, sovereign, and economically sustainable. Angola has the resources and the strategic position to become a key industrial platform, provided that value is created locally and infrastructure is conceived as a coherent system rather than isolated assets.”
At the heart of this strategy lies the emergence of a new regional economic corridor, connecting the Lobito Corridor to the ports of Banana and Matadi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This axis has the potential to significantly transform logistics across Central and Southern Africa by reducing transport costs, improving export competitiveness, and enabling industrial clusters to operate at scale across borders. The approach deliberately favors regional connectivity over fragmented development, positioning infrastructure as the backbone of industrialization.
This vision is fully aligned with the European Union’s Global Gateway initiative, which seeks to promote high-standard, sustainable infrastructure capable of reshaping regional value chains. The convergence between African industrial priorities, Gulf investment capacity, and European strategic frameworks creates a unique opportunity to deliver projects that are both transformative and financially robust.
Carousel Finance acts as a structuring partner at the intersection of governments, sovereign investors, and industrial operators. Its role is to design disciplined financial architectures, ensure institutional alignment, and support execution over the long term—transforming strategic intent into bankable, implementable projects.
The firm wishes to express its sincere appreciation to H.E. Júlio Belarmino Gomes Maiato, Ambassador of Angola to the United Arab Emirates, for his decisive support and for accompanying these exchanges with Abu Dhabi’s authorities. His engagement reflects Angola’s determination to pursue a forward-looking, partnership-driven industrial strategy.
Beyond a single project, these discussions point toward the emergence of a new economic geography, one in which Angola and its regional partners play a central role in global value chains, while retaining control over development priorities and outcomes. Carousel Finance remains fully committed to supporting African states in structuring sovereign, sustainable, and execution-ready industrial platforms—built with partners, financed with rigor, and designed for lasting impact.
