Growing middle class in Africa driving up business – attracting investment

African middle class family in Lusaka, Zambia. PHOTO/Georgina Smith/The Guardian

“African consumers want the same as consumers elsewhere – a mobile phone…“

Consumption of goods and services has grown in Africa – now comprising two-thirds of its gross domestic product (GDP) – amid a rapidly expanding middle class, which has tripled over the last 30 years to 313 million in 2010. A reflection of higher wages and increased access to technology, the middle class is expected to grow to 1.1 billion by 2060, making it the world’s fastest growing, according to a recent report by Deloitte.

To meet the demands of fast-growing markets like Kenya and Nigeria, deal-hungry executives are increasingly looking toward Africa, hoping to cash in on a rapidly expanding middle class.

Roughly 850 merger and acquisition deals were struck in Africa last year, an increase of 52 percent from the same period in 2009, while their total value climbed by 61 percent compared with three years earlier, according to data from Dealogic. Globally, deals volume was up just 16 percent during that same period.

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