COMESA 2018 | Page 8

SPECIAL REPORT manufacturing, power generation, and the common vision of improving our transport networks across Africa through road, rail, and maritime infrastructure. For decades, 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. In fact, to-date, Africa’s most viable and safe sectors of investment are manufacturing, extractive industries, agriculture, and tourism. However, with the rise of a vibrant manufacturing sector, and the common agenda to bring more value-added products to sell within the regional and global markets, the region has faced some key challenges in improving distribution, cross-border transactions and meeting market demands. These range from technological limitations, logistical and transport and energy costs, to varying regulatory frameworks across regional markets. As a businessman, these challenges, in turn, offer unconventional business opportunities. As a potential entrant into the market, you are looking at a huge market share of a