“The greatest contributor to economic growth is not physical infrastructure, but brainpower: what I refer to as ‘grey matter infrastructure’. Stunted children today leads to stunted economies tomorrow. Let us, together, end the scourge of malnutrition. It is well within our reach to do so, and the evidence is overwhelming that we must act – and act now.”
— Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank
As part of his drive to build Africa’s grey matter infrastructure, President Akinwumi Adesina of the African Development Bank has led efforts to make the Bank’s vast lending portfolio “nutrition smart”. By incorporating a nutrition-focused lens into project selection and design, investments in sectors like agriculture, health, social protection, and water and sanitation can produce “double wins” that contribute to the future brain power and productivity of the continent.
With the support of “Banking on Nutrition,” a long-term partnership between the Bank, the Aliko Dangote Foundation, and Big Win Philanthropy, the Bank launched its Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Action Plan 2018-2025 as a roadmap for achieving its ambitious nutrition goals, including a 40% stunting reduction across the continent and USD $7 billion in new nutrition-smart investments by the end of President Adesina’s term in 2025. As of the midterm review, nutrition-smart investments had risen from USD $0.49 billion to USD $2.88 billion, and a subsequent report by Nutrition International found that, as of 2024, a total of USD $5.4 billion has been allocated to nutrition-smart projects.
The African Development Bank has often been seen as an infrastructure bank. By expanding the definition of “infrastructure,” President Adesina opened the door to huge investments in human capital, changing perceptions of the role a banker could play in catalyzing the continent’s economic future.
