On 4 February, Aga Khan IV passed away. His successor, Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini, now steps into the role as the new Aga Khan, tasked with carrying forward his father’s vision.

Central to this legacy are the Aga Khan’s investment and assistance in Africa, which has shaped Africa’s economic landscape for over 75 years spanning 18 countries via the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), the for-profit agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).

The AKFED often works with local and international partners to establish companies that provide essential goods and services, such as banking, electric power, agricultural processing, hotels, and telecommunications, reinvesting the profits it generates into other economic development initiatives.

Meanwhile, the AKDN is a network of private, non-denominational development agencies founded by the Aga Khan that works to improve the quality of life in developing economies, with a focus on health, education, culture, rural development, institution building, and economic development.

Between 2005 and 2020, the group has invested more than $3.6bn investments in agribusiness, finance, health and aviation, creating a multiplier effect of around $18.8bn. With 20,000 employees, the Aga Khan Group regularly paid out more than $50m a year in direct salaries.

“The Aga Khan has been the most serious private investor in West Africa,” says someone with deep knowledge of the group. “It is behind the Azito power plant [in Côte d’Ivoire], renovation of old mosques in Mali, and the construction of the urban park in Bamako, Mali.”

But in the last five years, it has been undergoing strategic withdrawal, selling several businesses in the region.

The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) founded the Nation Media Group (NMG) in 1959.

As of 2007, it was the largest private media house in East and Central Africa, with offices in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. AKFED remains a major shareholder, with 44.66% ownership in the group.

“Like all Aga Khan businesses, [investments in] Nation Media Group should stay steady in the interim,” says someone close to the business. “The late Aga Khan has not been in charge of the business empire for the last five years.”

Finance

The Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance is the leading microfinance agency, present in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali. Since its inception, the institution has granted 410,000 loans for an estimated sum of about $160m. However, according to sources, this agency is being bought by a Malian group whose identity has not been revealed.

Meanwhile, in East Africa, the AKFED owns a 16.5% stake in Diamond Bank Group, down from 20.2% in 2017. Jubilee Insurance, which has a presence in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Mauritius is a subsidiary of AKFED.

Manufacturing and agriculture

Manufacturing companies in West Africa acquired by the AKDN include processing cotton seed company FasoCoton, jute and polypropylene bag manufacturer FasoPlast and sugar company SN Sosuco.

Last year, the Burkinabe junta, led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, reached an agreement with Industrial Promotion Services-West Africa (IPS-WA), a subsidiary of the AKDN, to take over its 67% stake in SN Sosuco. The sugar factory created 4,000 direct and indirect jobs and produced between 25,000 and 30,000 tonnes of sugar per year, well below the national need of over 100,000 tonnes.

The Optimus Holding Group, primarily owned by the family of Ivorian-Malian businessman Sidi Mohamed Kagnassi, purchased several companies from AKFED through IPS-WA, including Chimtec, which specialises in trading chemical products in Africa, and Ivoire Coton, which operates in the processing and marketing of seed cotton in the northwest of the country, for $207m.

Infrastructure

The IPS-WA has been a key stakeholder in the $225m Azito Power Plant, a gas-fired power facility in Cote d’Ivoire, with a 23.1% ownership stake in Azito Energie SA, the company that owns and operates the plant. Phase four, launched in March 2020, aims to add 253MW, bringing the plant’s total capacity to approximately 706MW. Additional debt financing from institutions such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) is helping support its development.

Founded in 2003, the West Nile Rural Electrification Company (WENRECo) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of IPS-WA aimed at generating, distributing and selling electricity across the West Nile sub-region with an estimated population of 2.3 million people.

Between 2013 and 2015, WENRECo implemented the West Nile rural electrification project, to electrify 30 health centres, 60 schools, 250 businesses and 6,000 households with funding from the government of Uganda, KfW and WENRECo.

Healthcare

The AKDN operates approximately 100 health centres and four hospitals in East Africa, including the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi, which opened in 1958 and has since become one of the leading hospitals in the region.

The AKDN’s involvement in healthcare in East Africa dates back to the colonial period, beginning with the establishment of a health centre in Dar es Salaam in 1929, which later became a hospital in 1964. Maternity homes in Mombasa and Kisumu were also established and later expanded into full-service hospitals in the 1950s.

In Kenya, the Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu recently underwent a significant expansion to enhance healthcare services in the region, supported by a $10.96m loan from Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and an $8m investment from the AKDN.

Hospitality

Serena Hotels, funded through the AKFED, develops hotels in underserved areas, contributing to economic growth through employment, training and local sourcing.

Sustainability is central to its hospitality agenda. The Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge in Tsavo West National Park, Kenya, is the first fully solar-powered hotel, while conservation efforts are integrated into the guest experience. At the Mombasa Serena Beach Resort and Spa, for example, guests and schoolchildren are educated about butterflies and their role in the ecosystem.

Serena operates 33 hotels, resorts, safari lodges and camps, as well as palaces and forts, across East Africa and Mozambique.