SPECIAL REPORT
D
uring a conversation with a software engineer, I
was drawn to this interesting remark, “If you want
to develop the right solution, fi rst understand your
market – and then customise it.” I believe this can be said
for a businessman looking to invest or go into a joint venture
partnership in the African continent. Here are some little
morsels of truth that you will need to guide your ultimately
successful journey into the African business market and
COMESA in particular.
According to Hans Rolin's book ‘Factfulness’, there
should be a re-defi ned approach to the terms “developing
world” versus “developed world”- especially when such
terms, may undesirably categorise certain economies as rich
versus poor, or “the West” versus “the rest.” Rolin goes on to
to manufacturing, minerals, and infrastructure. Today, we
see China, US, Russia, and the EU seeking various trade
agreements with the countries so as to position their share
in the African Market. Africa has land, natural resources,
affordable labour and a huge market rolled up into one
delicious sandwich. Africa is also made up of cultural
diversity, tastes, and preferences from 55 member states.
This opens the fl oor for innovations that speak to the needs
of over 1.2 billion people, representing a huge market for
what the continent offers.
It is clear that Africa today opens new ground for
investment and business opportunities. If you haven’t set
your eye on this market, you might be at the short end of the
investment stick. If you do have your eye on the ball, here are
The biggest investment
and business
opportunities for Africa
lay in traditional sources,
especially from the trade
and export of raw and non-
value-added commodities
such as crude oil, timber,
gold, coal, cocoa, tea,
coffee, leather and
several others.
show how economies were analysed with various indicators
that can give a misconception of the reality on the ground.
It is this that has led to dramatic titles such as “Africa, the
Dark Continent” to “Africa Rising”. These rather interesting
descriptions of the continent have played for and against
our markets. One can assume that the initial idea was to
draw attention to Africa’s growth pattern into one of the
fastest emerging economies – World Bank report shows that
six of the world’s ten fastest growing economies are in the
continent. One can also assume that the once uncivilised,
poverty-stricken, unapprised cluster of countries are gradually
upgrading to become what “the West” deems as “successful”.
Such terms have, on many occasions, altered the reality on
the ground.
Africa is rich. Africa’s resources feed more than half of
the world’s production inputs – ranging from agro-industry
some tidbits for you to make an informed decision on doing
business in COMESA.
A snapshot of the region – invest, partner, trade
In Africa, one size does not fi t all. Each country is diverse
and unusually different from the other from the other when it
comes to culture, geography and natural resources available.
COMESA’s investment portfolio is distributed within nine
economic sectors which have a combined value of $78
billion. These are in agriculture, infrastructure, energy,
general manufacturing, construction and real estate, tourism,
services, ICT, and mining. Depending on the regional/country
make-up, each sector offers investment opportunities that
range from housing to commercial construction, extractive
industries, hotel and hospitality industry development,
steel milling, leather production, pharmaceutical and tire
COMESA• 2018 • 7