Dr. Eugene Itua Honoured for Visionary Panel Contribution at AADFI-ADFIAP Joint CEO Forum 2025

At the AADFI-ADFIAP Joint International CEO Forum 2025, held from October 22–24 at the Wynn Macau Hotel in Macau SAR, China, Dr. Eugene Itua, CEO of Natural Eco Capital and Executive Director of the Africa Green Economy and Sustainability Institute (AGESI), was honoured with a Certificate of Appreciation by Mr. Thimal Perera, CEO of DFCC Bank PLC, Sri Lanka, for his outstanding contribution as a panelist in Session 1: Harnessing Sustainable Finance for Development – Exploring Innovative Financing Models to Accelerate Sustainable Development in Asia-Pacific and Africa.

Dr. Itua’s intervention delivered a compelling thesis: sustainable finance must evolve from niche innovation to mainstream risk management, anchored in three foundational pillars:

• Legal and policy certainty
• Natural capital valuation
• Auditable governance standards

A standout moment was his introduction of the Africa Green Opportunity Index™ (AGOI)—a first-of-its-kind strategic dashboard designed to transform Africa’s ecological wealth and governance capacity into investable, measurable, and resilient financial opportunities. The AGOI maps over $1.4 trillion in annual natural capital value and benchmarks governance readiness across African nations.

Dr. Itua proposed using the AGOI as a shared platform for opportunity mapping and strategic risk benchmarking between Africa and Asia-Pacific. He emphasized that Africa’s natural capital must be perceived not as a vulnerability, but as an opportunity: “The GOI is Africa’s answer to the global capital gap. It shows where nature is bankable, where governance is investable, and where capital can flow with confidence.”

The Africa Green Opportunity Index™ (AGOI) shifts the narrative from “Africa as vulnerable” to “Africa as investable.” It meets Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) where they operate—at the intersection of governance, risk, and capital deployment—positioning them as co-architects of global resilience. But its impact goes further.

AGOI also engages governments by providing a strategic lens to assess policy reform, signal investment readiness, and align national development plans with global sustainability standards. It empowers private investors and corporates with market intelligence to identify bankable natural assets and sustainability-aligned opportunities. For civil society and academia, AGOI offers a transparent platform for advocacy, research, and capacity building—ensuring that sustainability is not just a financial imperative, but a shared societal mission.

Together, these stakeholders form a collaborative ecosystem where AGOI serves as the common dashboard—translating ecological wealth and governance capacity into measurable, investable, and resilient development pathways across Africa.

Dr. Itua’s panel remarks also included:

• Case studies on climate legislation and sovereign investment strategies
• Tools for monetizing nature as infrastructure, including Natural Capital Accounting and forest carbon offset systems
• Governance safeguards such as UNDP SDG Impact Standards and ESIA/RAP compliance frameworks

He concluded with a call for auditable resilience, urging DFIs and investors to embed law, nature, and governance into every deal. His closing message: “Let’s move sustainable finance from niche to norm. Let’s build a future that is resilient, inclusive, and bankable.”

For more information on AGESI and the Africa Green Opportunity Index, visit www.agesi.africa. To learn more about Natural Eco Capital, visit www.ecopital.com.

At the AADFIAP-AADFI Joint International CEO Forum 2025, held October 22–24 at the Wynn Macau Hotel, Macau SAR, China, Mr. Thimal Perera, CEO of DFCC Bank, proudly presented Dr. Eugene Itua, CEO of Natural Eco Capital and Executive Director of AGESI, with a Certificate of Appreciation for his outstanding contribution as a panelist in Session 1: Harnessing Sustainable Finance for Development

Dr Eugene Itua speaking during the Distinguished Panellists’ Session 1: Harnessing Sustainable Finance for Development: Exploring Innovative Financing Models to Accelerate Sustainable Development in Asia-Pacific and Africa at the AADFI-ADFIAP Joint International CEO Forum 2025, held October 22–24 at the Wynn Macau Hotel in Macau SAR