The global economic powerhouse of US, UK, Canada, Germany, Russia, and China is one of the biggest strength when in comes to investment in Africa. The continent consists of 53 independent nations that have its own vast offerings of natural resources such as minerals reserves, gas and oil deposits. The focus on these top most industries have been an economic driver for several African nations like South Africa, Libya, Angola, Egypt, Malawi, and Mozambique.
The sub-Saharan regions have been reported specifically from World Bank to have achieved above average global performance in terms of GDP growth. This is why an Africa investor has to find other industries aside from the common petroleum and mining business activities to allocate their funds. Africa has 922 million people inhabiting the continent and it is a great pool of manpower. As one of the most notable Africa investor, China has been in the forefront of connecting ties with several African nations.
After Africa’s Electronics Communication Act or ECA was levied in 2005, the telecommunication and information systems in the continent had been reinvigorated and liberalized. This then made the ICT industry to be a potential cash cow. This has been projected to be an attractive investment in Africa most especially in countries like South Africa and Kenya. The act had also ushered Africa investor SEACOM to eliminate the dependency on satellite-based telecommunications and opened doors for cable services.
South Africa alone has been estimated to have 67.6 million mobile subscribers by 2014 according to the Canadian-based market intelligence group of IE Market Research Corporation (IEMR). Currently, the mobile phone industry enjoys 51 million subscribers and it definitely proves that Africa investment in the information and communications technology is the new diamond mine of Africa.
Nevertheless, the boom of a country’s economy is commonly assessed by its global competitiveness. Capturing a whole new market outside the country’s own geographic boundaries proves to be more lucrative than isolating products and services within. However, as with any other successful multinational companies the need for faster data transfer and exchange of information has become crucial in today’s fast-paced society. Business dealings are efficiently and effectively done over the airwaves and through binary codes of data transfers through cable lines. Because of this, development of the ICT infrastructure of Africa’s nations is one of the priorities of each of their independent governments.
As business growth is expected due to foreign directed aides and investments, certainly the telecommunications needs of these multinational companies have to be addressed. Ultimately, an Africa investor will find that global competitiveness and economic growth are definitely dependent on the ICT infrastructure. Yet, a balance in the business climate and the continent’s ecosystem has to be in Africa’s agenda as it moves proportionally with the global economic powerhouse.