The upcoming Manufacturing Indaba in Sandton on July 14, 2025, themed "Made in Africa: Scaling Growth, Shaping Trade," aims to address Africa's critical under-processing of its vast mineral resources, such as manganese and cobalt, despite holding significant global reserves. The conference is urged to move beyond discussions of full-scale downstream manufacturing, which is often decades away, and focus on "step one": partial processing and intermediate value capture. This approach, exemplified by Morocco's strategy in battery materials and Botswana's lesson in diamond beneficiation, offers a more immediate path to revenue generation, skill development, and funding for subsequent industrial stages. Practical discussions should identify commercially viable intermediate processing steps, leverage the AfCFTA for regional markets, and establish reinvestment mechanisms to fund further development.