Africa is the world’s second-largest, fastest-growing region with a GDP that could hit $7 trillion by 2035. The word ‘potential’ no longer applies…and its leaders are getting frustrated with the description.
By Chris Hayes*
The emotion was clear in his voice and body language, as His Excellency Ryad Mezzour, Minister of Industry & Trade, Kingdom of Morocco, addressed the Africa Investment Roundtable (November 24) in Riyadh: “They say that Africa – all of Africa – is risky. More risky than Amazon, more risky than Tesla, more risky than global tech companies valued higher than entire economies. It’s an attitude that means in Africa we have to do things perfectly and prove how good we are – that we are not a risk. We have to show that a continent of over one billion people can survive, and sell and do a good job, better even than a company selling electric cars whose profits have dropped 37% in a year. Stop kidding us – we are not risky. We have a future, we have a plan and we will execute it.”
His Excellency’s withering rebuke of nervous investors was met with rapturous applause from an audience that clearly felt the same way.
The Roundtable, held under the auspices of UNIDO’s 21st General Conference, brought together government ministers, banks and development organizations to showcase how they’re moving from high-level declarations to concrete projects that address Africa’s annual $170bn infrastructure gap: from corridor-based development to enhanced regulatory frameworks, and blended financing solutions.
This infrastructure gap means that all too often, industry comes to a literal standstill. Every day, trucks carrying goods across Africa spend more time waiting at borders than they do actually moving. The continent urgently needs to build roads, ports and industrial zones that will transform its countries’ economies. But its planning also needs to become more joined up – connecting farmers to markets, entrepreneurs to customers and young people to jobs. It is a question of turning Africa from a continent of raw materials into a continent of value creation; turning its immense promise into real factories, real jobs and thriving communities and its trade corridors into engines of industrial growth.
One word in particular, was not welcome at the Roundtable: ‘potential’.
Fatou Haidara, UNIDO’s Deputy Director General, observed just how many times the ‘potential’ of Africa’s natural resources, its young population, and its arable lands, are referenced. “We have to discuss how we transform this ‘potential’ into concrete project programs and accelerate the actions that lead to sustainable impact”, she said.
The panel rose to the challenge, presenting initiative after initiative through which their countries and organizations are actively mobilizing strategic investment and partnerships to accelerate Africa’s industrial transformation.
Mohammed Usman Abdul-Razaq, Senior Vice President, Capital Mobilization & Partnerships at the Lagos-based Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), spoke of the role his organization is playing in infrastructure delivery across Africa. With AFC’s investments in over 36 African countries, and disbursements of over $17 billion, the Corporation is taking great strides on job creation and industrial growth.
It is a major investor and financier of the Kano-Maradi Railway Project, a large infrastructure project connecting Nigeria and Niger which will enhance regional economic integration and trade between the two countries. It is also the financing partner for the Lobito Corridor, which links critical minerals fields with an Angolan port.
These projects, Abdul-Razaq said, emphasize the need for deep partnerships, especially with Middle Eastern partners, to scale such models and ensure projects go from ideas to reality.
Reflecting the importance of the event, Gerd Müller, UNIDO’s Director General, joined the meeting in person to give some impromptu remarks. He was bullish about the continent’s industrial prospects. “Africa”, he said, “is the continent of the future.”
Judging by the projects, initiatives – and passion – on display at the Investment Roundtable, Africa isn’t just rising. It’s ready.
*Chris Hayes is a corporate sustainability and technology writer with over 20 years’ experience supporting the global mining, energy and logistics sector
