French President Emmanuel Macron has called on French companies and financial institutions to step up their engagement across Africa, warning that excessive caution and bureaucratic delays have allowed global competitors to erode France’s long-standing influence on the continent.
Addressing French ambassadors in Paris, Macron said partnerships with African economies must become central to France’s growth strategy, spanning entrepreneurship, finance, and stronger ties with the African diaspora.
He criticized what he described as an unjustified hesitancy among French firms and urged government officials to push for deeper commercial involvement across African markets.
Macron announced that the renewed strategy will be a key focus of a summit scheduled for May in Nairobi, where leaders including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have been invited. The move signals France’s intention to reposition Africa at the heart of its international economic agenda.
The push comes amid a sharp decline in France’s economic and political footprint in Africa over the past decade. French banks and multinational companies have scaled back operations in several countries, despite France being a dominant financial player on the continent as recently as 15 years ago.
This retreat has opened the door for China, Gulf states, India, and Russia to expand their influence, offering African governments alternative sources of investment, financing, and security cooperation.
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France’s diminishing presence has also been shaped by political shifts. In many Francophone African countries, public sentiment has grown increasingly critical of France’s post-colonial role, often referred to as Françafrique.
Several Sahel nations have forced French troops to withdraw and have sought new security partnerships, with members of the Alliance of Sahel States openly rejecting Paris’s influence in favor of non-Western allies.
These developments reflect a broader effort by African governments to diversify foreign partnerships and assert greater control over security, resources, and economic policy.
France’s renewed economic outreach contrasts with its recent disengagement from regional security matters.
Last year, a French government minister said the security fallout from France’s military withdrawal from the Sahel was no longer Paris’s concern, shortly after France handed over its final major base in the region.
Macron’s latest call for deeper economic engagement appears aimed at reversing that trajectory by shifting France’s Africa policy away from military involvement and toward trade, finance, and entrepreneurship. By encouraging French firms to take greater risks in Africa’s fast-growing and increasingly competitive markets, Paris hopes to restore its relevance and influence on the continent.
