Africa The Next Economic Battleground

When every major country is thinking to invest in South East Asia, to take advantage of their growing population. There are some big some countries and even companies which are showing interest to invest in Africa. Countries like US, China, Europe and India are already seeing Africa as a potential future market.

Well historically, Africa had a number of rich empires trading in many parts of the world. However, European colonization, and the subsequent challenges created by decolonization resulted in environmental, economic and social instability in Africa. It was similar to what happened due to colonial rule in most of the Asian countries. But the Asian countries started overcome those challenges before Africa. For example China started its economic growth after 80's and India started to grow economically in the 90's. Yet in Africa the economic growth started in the late 2000s. And this economic growth began due to two main players, one is America's big tech companies and the second is China. 

You see tech companies are always looking for bigger markets. And Africa is showing great signs because of its growing population and economic growth. The 54 countries in Africa have a combined population of 1.3 billion people, with an average age of 19. And more than half of global population growth over the next 30 years will happen there. Similarly, in 2019, 6 of the top 15 fastest growing economies in the world were projected to be in Africa. And According to the London based think tank Future Agenda, Africa's total GDP could hit 2.6 trillion dollars this year. Their GDP growth is projected to accelerate to 4.1%. So, all these things are attracting global companies to Africa. 

Yet today the major problem for the economic development of Africa is, its poor infrastructure. Till now only 43 percent of the population has access to electricity and internet in the African continent. And this is only 40% as compared to the global 62%. But when it comes to Africa's infrastructure programs china play's an important role in it. Over the past two decades, China has helped Africa to meet their infrastructure financing needs. Till now China has participated in over 200 African infrastructure projects. Including highways, electricity, railways and may more. Also Huawei has built nearly 70% of Africa's 4g networks.
Similarly American companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon are also helping to improve Africa's infrastructure. For example, Facebook is building a massive underwater cable around Africa, this is to bring more of the continent's 1.3 billion inhabitants online. Facebook claims that this 37000 km network will be nearly equal to the circumference of the Earth.
Likewise Google is also working on creating an infrastructure for cheaper internet access for Africa. Google's new cable, named Equiano, will have 20 times the capacity of the most recent projects laid in the region.
Yet it is not just foreign players, Africa's startup industry is also accomplishing new milestones. African startups last year reached 2.02 billion dollars in equity funding. Startups like Jumia are the future of the African tech industry. Jumia is the Amazon of Africa. And Jumia is the first African tech company that was listed on the new york stock exchange. 

At the end it is an economic battleground. And whoever will build Africa's infrastructure fastest will get most of it. And it seems that China is winning in Africa. Although some African countries are concerned about China's increasing debt on their country and China's Debt-trap diplomacy. Yet still china is playing an important role in Africa's infrastructure program. And because of this investment we have seen massive economic growth in Africa lifting millions of people out of poverty. Even though the current pandemic could slow down the economic development but this will be for a short duration. 
So with good governance and a massive infrastructure development program, Africa could become a major economic powerhouse. 

#africaeconomy #economy
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