Published on 29 Aug 2025

Singapore strengthens business ties with Africa

Bilateral trade has increased 50% in the past five years

Que Boxi and Anang Didam of NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies at the ASBF 2025.

The eighth Africa Singapore Business Forum (ASBF), held in Singapore has underscored the growing economic links between the city-state and the African continent. The forum, which took place from August 26-28, 2025, at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront, brought together more than 700 business and government leaders from over 40 countries. Several new bilateral investment treaties and private-sector deals were announced during the three-day event. The NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies was once again the official knowledge partner of the event.

Photo source: Enterprise Singapore

President John Mahama of Ghana delivered the keynote address, becoming the first African head of state to attend the forum since its launch in 2010. He arrived in Singapore after attending the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama. In his remarks, Mahama urged closer collaboration between Singapore and Africa, noting that global trade tensions had created a need for businesses to seek new markets and investment destinations. In his address, he positioned Ghana as a "reliable gateway" to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). He noted that Africa and Asia, as the world's "two youngest, fastest‑urbanising regions," are complementary in resources, markets, and know-how. President Mahama urged for a deeper South-South partnership, arguing that tighter global financial conditions demand new alliances. He emphasized that the fundamentals in Africa are compelling, citing a 1.4 billion-strong population, and a potential US$3.4 trillion single market. He highlighted the leap that Africa has made in mobile money (65% of all global mobile wallets transactions are happening in Africa) are fintech adoption. During his three-day state visit to Singapore, President Mahama also held talks with his counterpart President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

Bilateral trade between Singapore and Africa grew by more than 50%, from S$12.1bn (US$8.8bn) in 2020 to S$18.7bn (US$14bn) in 2024. By the end of 2023, Singapore’s cumulative investments in Africa exceeded S$26.9bn (US$20.1bn), making it one of the continent’s top 10 investors. Although large investors from Singapore remain predominantly in the extractive and agribusiness sector, new and smaller firms in the fintech and carbon project sectors have started to converge on Africa. Singapore has signed Implementation Agreements on carbon credits cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement with Ghana and Rwanda. These agreements aim to enable investment to flow into carbon mitigation and climate adaptation activities. One specific initiative accepted under the Singapore-Ghana agreement aims to restore degraded landscapes and improve rural livelihoods through nature-based solutions, generating high-integrity carbon credits.

Several commercial partnerships were announced at the forum. LAC Global, a Singapore-based vitamins and supplements company, appointed Ghana’s Watertree as its exclusive distributor. The agreement covers the import of LAC’s products, as well as their marketing and retail distribution. LAC already operates in Nigeria and is eyeing entry into Senegal and South Africa.

Arkadiah Technology, a Singapore-based climate technology company, signed a deal with CJ Commodities, a Ghanaian agribusiness and cocoa supply chain company, to launch a large-scale agroforestry project. The venture will restore degraded land, improve rural livelihoods and generate carbon credits through nature-based solutions. The announcement builds on Singapore’s wider climate strategy. The country has already signed carbon credit agreements with Rwanda and Ghana and is seeking further partnerships that allow it to offset part of its greenhouse gas emissions.

Another agreement involved Valency International, a Singapore-headquartered agricultural commodities trader. It signed an MoU with Revata Carbon, a Singaporean company producing green products from agricultural waste, to set up a biocarbon plant in Côte d’Ivoire. The facility will convert cashew shells from Valency’s operations into biocarbon for fertiliser production and generate clean energy to power its local processing plant.

In the fintech sector – an area where several Singaporean firms are increasingly active in Africa – Embed Financial Group Holdings signed an MoU with Purpleline Solutions, a Ghanaian technology services company. Together they plan to modernise how insurance works in Ghana by moving more processes online. The partnership also aims to add services such as insurance and micro-financing to local digital platforms, making them easier for customers to access.

Singapore signed new bilateral investment treaties with Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria. These legally binding agreements give Singaporean businesses greater protection for their investments in Africa. Singapore now has seven such treaties across Africa and is in the process of negotiating another with Ghana. More than 100 Singaporean companies now operate across 40 African countries. Although Singapore does not provide political risk insurance for its firms it has signed a risk sharing agreement with Afreximbank that enables lending support to Singapore firms venturing into Africa.

The robust growth in trade and investment, coupled with the many partnership agreements announced at the forum, shows that the momentum of exchange between Singapore and the African continent has accelerated. As global economic landscapes continue to shift, the collaboration fostered at the ASBF could be critical in charting a new era of partnership between the two.