CACFO 2025 : African Chief Financial Officers urged to ‘balance profit with purpose

The government of Ghana has reaffirmed its partnership with all financial leaders in a bid to build an Africa where “profit coexists with purpose and where risks become the catalyst for innovation”. These remarks were made Deputy Chief of Staff at Ghana’s presidency, Nana Oye Bampoe Addo who disclosed to participants who attended the 2025 Conference of African Chief Financial Officers (CACFO) summit in Accra that Africa’s quest to build stronger institutions rest on Finance Officers playing their role by ensuring that institutions operate efficiently using the principles of value for money, transparency and also with a focus on accountability.
The Conference of African Chief Financial Officers (CACFO) offers a fresh and unique platform for African CFOs to gather and reflect on the peculiar but shared challenges confronting their work as apex managers of the financial portfolios of companies on the continent and beyond. In the wake of new challenges presented by the recent global pandemic, coupled with ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainties, the work of the CFO has been thrown into sharper focus like never before thereby compelling a nuanced review of the subject’s affecting CFOs as a niche community of officers leading the financial management of the African corporation.
Structured to reflect the diversity and spectrum of trending themes affecting the work of the contemporary CFO, CACFO delved into topics as Sustainable Financing and ESG, AfCFTA & Trade Finance, implications and opportunities of AI in African Project Finance, Risks and Economy Issues in Post Pandemic Africa, Credit & Liquidity challenges in African Corporate Finance, Corporate governance and the work of the CFO amongst others.
With this year’s theme for the conference focusing on Profit Risk and Scalability, Executive Director. Conference of African Chief Finance Officers, Hannah Awuku explained to the press that Conference being one of the largest gatherings of Finace leaders across the continent provides an opportunity for sharing lessons on how to improve efficiency in Africa’s financial Institutions while creating a platform for emerging leaders to gain insights from leaders in the industry.
Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Export-Import Bank (GEXIM) Sylvester Adinam Mensah who also addressed the gathering noted that “the time has come for Africa’s financial leaders to move from managing volatility to designing resilience; from reacting to global trends to shaping them”. The chief Executive made a call to Action while explaining that to realize Financial growth across Africa steps must be taken by actors to Strengthening intra-African financial systems – interoperable payment systems, unified credit markets, and cross-border investment frameworks. He added that partnerships must be deepened between development finance institutions and private capital to fund industrialization and green transition. Also the CEO called for more Investment in the next generation of CFOs, “particularly our young and female finance leaders, who bring innovation and diversity to decision-making”.