Council challenges continent to build factories around its minerals, agriculture and other resources
By Joy Omagha Idam
Africa may not need to discover more natural resources to trigger its next industrial revolution. What the continent urgently needs, according to the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), is the capacity and determination to turn the resources it already possesses into products, factories, businesses and jobs.
For decades, Africa has remained heavily involved in the extraction and export of raw agricultural and mineral commodities, often watching as much of the higher economic value is created elsewhere.
The RMRDC believes that pattern must change.
The Council is using the African Raw Materials Summit (ARMS) 2026 to push a new continental conversation — one that seeks to move Africa away from the traditional “pit-to-port” model and towards a system where African raw materials become the foundation for African industries.
The second edition of ARMS is scheduled for October 19–20, 2026, at the Abuja Continental Hotel, under the theme: “From African Feedstock to African Factory.”
The theme captures the summit’s central proposition: Africa should not merely be the source of the raw materials that power industries elsewhere; it should increasingly become the place where those resources are processed, manufactured and transformed into higher-value products.
According to the official summit programme, discussions will focus on processing African agricultural and mineral raw materials within the continent, strengthening regional value chains and improving the competitiveness of African manufacturing.
FROM EXTRACTION TO TRANSFORMATION
Director-General of the RMRDC, Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, said Africa’s industrial future would depend on its ability to move beyond exporting low-value primary commodities and begin producing and exporting higher-value industrial goods.
That transformation, he noted, cannot be achieved through extraction alone.
It would require coordinated action around logistics, supportive policies, sustainable production, regional integration and innovation backed by capital.
The implication is significant.
Instead of exporting agricultural products, minerals and other commodities in forms that attract limited value, African countries would need to build industries capable of transforming those resources into finished or semi-finished products.
Such a shift could potentially create stronger manufacturing ecosystems, stimulate investment and expand opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship across the continent.
TURNING WASTE INTO INDUSTRIAL WEALTH
One of the ideas gaining attention under the ARMS agenda is the development of a circular industrial economy.
Under such a system, materials traditionally treated as waste — including agricultural residues, mine tailings, scrap metals and biomass — could be recovered and converted into useful inputs for other production processes.
Ike-Muonso said this approach could help reduce waste and the cost of raw materials while encouraging more sustainable and climate-resilient manufacturing.
For a continent grappling with unemployment, industrial deficits and the rising cost of imported goods, the concept presents another dimension to the value-addition debate: what is currently discarded could become another industry’s raw material.
AFRICA’S MARKETS MUST WORK TOGETHER
The RMRDC DG also identified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as a major platform for developing stronger regional value chains.
Rather than African countries operating largely as separate markets, he said they could leverage their different natural resources, skills and industrial capabilities to produce goods collaboratively within the continent.
One country may possess the raw material, another the processing capacity, another the technology, while another provides access to a wider market.
The official ARMS programme similarly places emphasis on cross-border logistics, efficient supply chains, quality standards, backward integration and regional value chains.
The objective is to make African production more connected, competitive and capable of meeting both continental and international demand.
A SUMMIT WITH A BIGGER QUESTION
The summit’s Head of Secretariat, Rachael Kotso, alongside the Director, Directorate of Corporate Affairs, Chinyere Nnamdi-Anum, are part of the team driving awareness around the continental platform.
The organisers say ARMS 2026 will bring together policymakers, industry leaders, academics, researchers, manufacturers and entrepreneurs to examine practical ways Africa can retain more economic value from its natural resources.
But beneath the technical discussions lies a fundamental question.
How much of Africa’s wealth actually remains in Africa after its resources leave the continent?
For the RMRDC, the conversation is no longer simply about how much Africa can extract from its soil, forests, farms and mines.
It is increasingly about how much value Africa can create before those resources leave its shores.
That is the philosophy behind ARMS 2026 — bringing governments, investors, researchers and manufacturers around the same table to explore partnerships that can turn African feedstock into African factories, African products and, ultimately, greater African industrial capacity.
If successfully translated from conference discussions into investment and policy action, the vision would represent a significant shift in the continent’s economic narrative:
Africa supplying not just the raw materials for global industries, but building more of the industries itself.