Africa as a continent if stands together and does not go back to the era of Civil wars and turmoils can be the next China, a country whose upliftment from a poor country where hunger takes the life of millions to world’s second largest economy is an enigma to many across the globe.
But before any such comparison, lets put an eye on the fact why Chinese growth is unique. Since industrial revolution, it was a common business trend that the poor mineral rich countries will provide raw materials to industrial world and in exchange to it will receive over-priced branded finished merchandise.
China changed this rule of the game. It flooded the global market with similar finished products cheaper in cost and affordable to most consumers who till date were not able to have those highly fashionable things. Later on China gradually converted itself to the production hub of the world where all the global giants were forced to open their manufacturing plants so that they can survive in this changing global scenario and adopt with it.
In this way China had done something so unique and in such a gigantic scale that it is unimaginable. What China had done in the phase of 1978–1991 is now followed by African nations in a smaller scale.
The most important of it is the change in the perception of Africa as a continent-
The left one is what Africa was even two decades back and the right one is what it is today.
Rapid Urbanization
Till 1970’s China was a prominently agricultural society with limited industrialization and people were forced to work in the field. Millions died during that phase due to hunger. But now, it is totally an industrialized nation. China experienced an average GDP growth of close to 10% per year until 2014, raising per capita GDP almost 49-fold, from 155 current US Dollars (1978) to 7,590 US Dollars in 2014, lifting 800 million people out of poverty – an unparalleled achievement. In urban centers in China, poverty has been virtually eliminated.
The African nations also face rapid population rise due to start in development.
This population growth is driving the Rapid Urbanization of African cities. Sub-Saharan Africa is urbanizing faster than any other place on the planet. By 2025, Africa will have three mega cities comprised of more than 10 million people each, with Lagos, Nigeria is supposed to be the largest city on Earth by 2075.
Productivity in those large cities is three times as high as in rural areas, resulting in a growing middle class consisting of One billion middle class Africans by 2060.
Urbanization has been a leading indicator of productivity and prosperity, looking at the ratio of urban dwellers to rural dwellers, Africa is nearly as urbanized as China. Within the next 20 years several African cities will experience an over 50% increase in their population.
Given these changing dynamics in Africa, it is safe to say that Rapid Urbanization will be continued for decades to come, creating new opportunities and growth.
Changing Demographics
In 1980’s China China used his One billion population as well as huge number of working age people to increase it’s production as well as working + consumption capability.
Presently, Africa has the largest population of people under 20 years of age. Combined with high birth rates and decreasing infant mortality rates, this youth bubble will lead to Africa having the world’s biggest working population exceeding China & India.
The world’s eyes are turned toward Africa’s growing workforce and market of more than one billion people, including a rapidly growing middle class. Investors also see significant opportunities to invest in Africa’s non-commodities sectors: financial services, construction, and manufacturing.
Hyper Globalization
Increased globalization and connectivity are giving rise to the Silicon Savannah. With over 340 million Africans using the internet services and 99% of those via handheld devices, this is more than all of North America.
This is causing the world to become smaller. Successful business models, innovation practices, and technologies are finding fertile soil in Africa. Example- Recently,GE proposed that it will invest $2 billion to developing facilities and infrastructure, improving supply chain and training workers.
If we look at global economies over the last 150 years we will see that every economy grows, some are just delayed. And Africa is simply catching up quite late comparing to it’s Asian counterparts.
Economists project that Africa’s GDP growth is about 30 years behind China and 20 years behind India.
Diversification of industries has enabled several African countries to move beyond resource market dependencies.
Commitments to a unified Africa have increased the stability of African economies and the prevalence of democracies.
If there is any continent that can do what China has done over the last 30 years, it will be Africa in the next 30 years.
African nations have a compelling opportunity to seize a share of the roughly 80 million jobs that China will export as its manufacturers lose competitiveness.
In an industrial zone outside Addis Ababa, the Chinese-owned Huajian factory — which opened in 2012 and became profitable in its first year of operation — reportedly plans to expand its workforce to 30,000 as part of a $2-billion investment.
One more indication that “made in Ethiopia” could become the next “made in China.”
While we must keep in mind that Africa is a divided continent of 54 countries, gradual unification is occurring. Africa has a 50-year vision of establishing a continent-wide economic and monetary union. In addition to becoming a strong and influential global player and partner, valuing good governance, democracy, human rights, justice and a rule of law, Africa also maintains a strong cultural identity, values and ethic.
Hence, if not China is a complicated term, but a prosperous future of “New Africa” is surely to come. And as a global citizen, we can all pray for it..
5
Call, send emails, Linkedin and whatsapp from Salesforce.
Make Salesforce the best tool for your
Lives in NigeriaUpdated 6y
RelatedWhy is Nigeria called giant of Africa?
With a population of about 180 million people, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, the most populous black nation on earth, and the 8th most populous in the world — after China, India, USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, and Russia.
With an annual GDP of about $400 billion, Nigeria has the largest economy in Africa.
Nigeria is home to Lagos, the sixth largest urban centre in the world — after Tokyo, Mumbai, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, and New York City.
Nigeria is the only African country listed among the “Next Eleven” economies poised to become the biggest economies in the 21st century.
RelatedWhy is China investing into dams abroad? Is it energy?
Because there a lot of things that need to be built in a lot of places in the world and the Chinese are the only ones pretty much willing to take on big engineering projects anymore. That’s really the simplest answer, the US and Europe haven’t taken on any really large-scale engineering projects in decades and the Chinese are very good at it. There are a lot of rivers in China and a lot of dams. China has the largest dam in the world (Three Gorges Dam on the Changjiang River) and is also the world’s largest producer of hydro-electric power. China is also building a new ‘Panama’ canal (not in P
Studied at Ph.D Astronomy UT Austin, Physics MIT5y
RelatedWhy doesn’t America invest in Africa like China?
Lots of weird stereotypes and general lack of knowledge. You see the number of people that seem to think that everyone in China is wearing Mao suits. People have these old and dated stereotypes of Africa.
Whereas when most Chinese look at Africa, the general view is that Africa is where China was thirty years ago, and people want in at the ground floor
retired computer analyst and widely read on history and science7y
RelatedWhy is China building dams while complaining about water shortages?
The shortages are mostly in North China, with schemes now to move water from south to north.
Dams also prevent flooding and generate hydroelectic power
xenophile, cultural scholar, keen interest in geopoliticsUpdated 4y
RelatedIs China behaving exploitative in Africa?
(A2A)
Is China exploiting Africa? No.
How can I flat out say this? Because there’s empiric proof.
Years ago, John Hopkins University was among the first to raise alarm bells of China’s activities in Africa. Knowing perfectly well what the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund has been using debt-diplomacy in Africa for decades to control African development, they decided to dive into the matter and funded the China-Africa Research Initiative to collect data on the dozens of Chinese loans and thousands of Chinese projects in Africa — especially those that are either state-sponsored or
Well versed on history of China, and follows its politics a bit5y
RelatedWhat could be behind China’s increasing interest in Africa?
Well, China think this is the big market inefficiency, because if we understand the general logic of diminishing return, which is basically the first lesson everyone learns in economics , then investing in place that badly under-invested should have the highest marginal value. this isn’t exactly rocket science.
So where’ s the most under invested place in the world??? where do we have a ton of population but woefully lacking in basic roads and infrastructure?
Now there’s obviously a reason why Africa is under invested, but if you don’t take risk you won’t win any prizes and these are risks that
Continue Reading
Emmanuel-Francis Nwaolisa Ogomegbunam
upvoted this
Follow
Knows Chinese4y
RelatedCan China liberate Africa?
hello,
thanks for your question,but i must remedy your mistake.Not China Liberate Africa.they need Liberate themselves.
Africa is rich in commodities,they could use their congenital condition to make money,to be rich.most important is to fill the belly first.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
Chinese isn’t leader,Chinese is friend.
thank you for read
upvoted this
Upvote
10
Follow
Hydropower Fanboy.6y
RelatedWhy doesn’t the US build more hydroelectric dams?
The U.S. doesn’t build more HPP’s because there is strong social opposition, major regulatory hurdles and economic challenges to building out HPP’s in the United States.
Most Americans and Canadians have a much different relationship with nature than the rest of us. Americans and Canadians fish, hunt, hike, walk, run, etc. in their forests, and many people in fact choose to leave the city for the countryside on a regular basis. Because of this, any project that involves intervening a watercourse, ruining the scenery of a beautiful mountain stream, or changing the flow of a river that is full of
Continue Reading
Upvote
11
1
Follow
Former Staff Software Engineer at Google (company) (2003–2016)4y
RelatedWhy is China planning to build so many hydroelectric dams?
In order not to burn so much coal.
Some said China is helping, some said China is not and some even said it’s Neo-colonialism.
At the bare minimum, China has NOT mass murdered, enslaved, robbed, raped, exploited and stole from Africa like the Europeans and Americans had and have for centuries
Continue Readin
RelatedWhy does China invest so much in Africa?
First off, I’d like to demystify this statement a bit.
Yes, China invests a lot in Africa, we’ve all seen the shiny roads and train lines. But it sort of discounts the fact that other nations certainly invest in African countries as well. As a matter of fact, look at this data from 2015 (it only includes capital investment, but is very telling anyways)
Source: https://www.camara.es/sites/default/files/publicaciones/the-africa-investment-report-2016.pdf
Who’s the biggest capital investor? ITALY??? (Probably North Africa rather than sub-Saharan but still)
And I think we forget that fact because a)
Follow
Read a lot about ChinaUpdated 1y
RelatedWhy is China’s proposed Medog hydropower station strongly opposed by India?
Hi, Mia Brown, I don’t know if you are from China or elsewhere. My write-up ends with a note that you may not understand. It has relevance to the topic to show how governments have two policies, one external and another domestic for the same issue. Please bear with me.
The rivers Indus, Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra), Irrawaddy, Salween, Yangtze, and the Mekong, flowing into Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam, all rise in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.
It is naturally feared that having control over cross-boundary rivers originating from Himalayan glaciers, China uses
Former Research Scientist 6 Level 2 UAH (2008–2014)Jan 23
RelatedIs the Chinese dam in Ecuador going to burst as the US claims?
I was unable to find that the USA was warning that the dam would burst. I did see considerable video of the erosion in the location and much discussion of the quality of the dam installation.
I looked at some length at this stuff and it looks to me like the dam was built on the Rio Cocoa at a location about 3 miles (5 km) upstream of a very large waterfall on the river going down into the Amazon drainage basin. It is a 1.5 GW generation dam.
It appears to me that the dam was built with very poor foundation rock. It also was built with poor mass to save money so that leakages under the foundatio
