The African Development Bank's tentative $650 million commitment to Uganda's Standard Gauge Railway is about more than a railway. It signals the emergence of a new financing model for African infrastructure, combining multilateral capital, export credit support, and alternative capital markets to advance regional connectivity.

Africa’s infrastructure challenge is often framed as a funding gap. But the deeper issue may be design. This Panadia Intelligence piece examines how inherited transport, trade, financial, and regulatory systems continue to shape Africa’s ability to move people, goods, capital, and opportunity across the continent.