High transfer costs
Remittance costs to Africa average 8 to 12 percent in many corridors — nearly three times the United Nations target of below 3 percent.
8–12% typical
0%5%10%15%
A Working Group initiative · African Union & INCLUDE
Every year, Africa's diaspora sends home more than USD 100 billion — more than official aid and productive foreign investment combined. Coming Home to Invest is building the trusted infrastructure to turn more of that capital into lasting investment.
The opportunity
African diaspora communities across Europe, the Americas, the Gulf and beyond send more than USD 100 billion to the continent every year — more than Official Development Assistance and productive Foreign Direct Investment combined. Yet less than a fifth of this reaches productive investment. The rest, rightly, supports family welfare: school fees, healthcare, food and emergencies.
This is not a story about diaspora unwillingness to invest. It is a story about missing infrastructure: a trusted, coordinated way for diaspora capital to find its way into African economies.
Less than 20%Reaches businesses, projects and productive assets.
The remainderSupports households directly, and will continue to.
The problem
Four barriers stand between diaspora capital and productive investment. None of them is about appetite.
Remittance costs to Africa average 8 to 12 percent in many corridors — nearly three times the United Nations target of below 3 percent.
Diaspora offices, funds and programmes already exist across the continent, but they operate in isolation from one another.
Diaspora investors often cannot find verified opportunities, or know which institution to trust.
Existing programmes have no shared standards, no shared visibility, and no way to connect diaspora investors across borders.
About the initiative
Coming Home to Invest is a Working Group initiative building the evidence, the guide and the infrastructure Africa needs to turn diaspora capital into productive investment.
It brings together the African Union's Citizens and Diaspora Organizations Directorate (CIDO), the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), the African Institute for Remittances (AIR), and a coalition of research, technology and implementation partners.
A rigorous review of the scale, patterns and barriers shaping diaspora investment across Africa.
Practical pathways for diaspora investors, and a de-risking strategy for governments.
The coordination infrastructure that connects it all.
How it works
The Corridor is not a new fund and not a new implementing agency. It is coordination infrastructure that connects what already exists.
A new fund. A new implementing agency. A replacement for programmes already doing the work.
Shared standards, shared visibility and a single coordinated way to route diaspora investors to programmes that already exist.
Someone abroad looking for a credible way to invest at home.
A National Diaspora Investment Agency desk in each participating country profiles the investor and routes them onward.
Programmes continue to do the investing and matching exactly as they do today.
Capital lands in businesses, projects and productive assets — and is reported consistently.
Instead of fragmented efforts across 55 countries, governments and funders get one coordinated way to support the programmes that already work.
Roadmap
From a pilot in five countries to coverage across all 55 African Union Member States by 2030.
AU Member States covered
Partners
Coming Home to Invest is convened in partnership with:
Get involved
Whether you are a government, a development finance institution, a diaspora investor, or a partner organisation, there is a role for you in this initiative.