Local knowledge, global ambition: The Horizon 3.0 shifts perceptions as it takes Africa’s investment story to EU

Those wishing to truly understand Africa’s investment opportunities need to look beyond inherited perceptions and to the modern realities of doing business on the fast-growing continent, says Amala Umeike of Stren & Blan Partners. 

Walking the walk, Amala and his Nigerian firm are once again bringing together international decision-makers with those who navigate Africa’s markets at the upcoming The Horizon 3.0 summit in Frankfurt on 29 October.  

Originally launched in London in 2024, The Horizon was created by Stren & Blan Partners as a platform for meaningful dialogue on Africa’s investment landscape, gathering business leaders, investors, policymakers, and professionals to explore opportunities and realities of doing business in Nigeria and across the continent.

“Those doing business on the African continent, especially from a European perspective, would be interested in knowing what’s actually going on from people who have their boots on the ground,” says Amala, discussing the flagship leadership forum, which explores opportunities, risks, and transformations that are shaping Africa’s business and investment landscape now and into the future. “We’re not just focused on Nigeria, we’re focused on Africa generally.”

This month’s event in Frankfurt, aka the Continental Growth and Transformation Summit, reflects the firm’s longstanding German relationships. Amala himself serves as honorary legal adviser to the Nigerian-German Chamber of Commerce, and the firm advises AHK Nigeria, the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Nigeria, and works with German corporate clients. 

“The idea of The Horizon is to take the message of Africa to the rest of the world,” says Amala. “What better way to do that than to organise an event where we put together key business leaders, key decision-makers in a room to discuss doing business in Nigeria, doing business in Africa, looking at the legal landscape?”

It’s a two-way exchange. With AI among the issues being discussed this year, Amala sees scope to explore how European regulatory experience could inform protections and legal frameworks that support African development.

“What we are doing is not just showcasing, but also learning,” he says. 

“We’re trying to look at a bustling economy like Germany and see how, from a European perspective, these opportunities have been regulated and what lessons can be learned. I think it’s symbiotic.”

For investors looking at Africa, the practical questions extend from foreign investment and financing to tax and emerging technologies. Amala wants participants to understand both Africa’s evolving legal and regulatory frameworks, and the support that is available to navigate them. While there are challenges for investors, Amala notes perceptions of Africa often don’t reflect modern realities.

“Some of the difficulties that people perceive are perhaps historical difficulties,” he says. “It might be cultural; it might be differences among the legal frameworks they are more familiar with. What we want to do is provide them that comfort.”

Providing guidance and building confidence also means considering how businesses protect value when investments may encounter difficulty. 

The Horizon summit will look at administration, turnaround and restructuring, asset recovery and dispute resolution, and business resilience alongside capital, infrastructure and innovation. For Stren & Blan Partners, the work continues beyond the event; after each instalment of The Horizon, the firm looks to engage governments, through its corporate social responsibility strategy, on issues that have been identified by attendees and international investors during discussions. 

“We’re not just thinking about interpreting the next piece of legislation,” says Amala. “We are intentional about driving the change that we desire for Africa. We try and have the conversations, then carry those conversations into actions.”

Stren & Blan Partners will host The Horizon 3.0, a summit on “Africa at an Inflection point: Capital, Innovation, Resilience and Transformation”, in Frankfurt on 29 October 2026. For more information and to register, visit here, or for inquiries, reach out to contact@strenandblan.com.