By Danilo Desiderio A useful lens for understanding why some regions industrialized faster than others is to look past what they produced and examine instead how...
From Casablanca to Kigali, a continent-wide network of industrial zones is quietly becoming one of the most consequential developments in 21st-century trade.
The old assumption - that industrialization is engineered within national borders - has expired. Africa's economic future will be shaped not by the walls that divide...
By Des H Rikhotso As major economies decelerate, the continent’s structural transformation is rewriting the global growth narrative. The latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) projections reveal...
By Lance Chisue Africa’s manufacturing sector is experiencing an unprecedented surge as nations across the continent compete to industrialize and expand production capacity. The transformation signals...
By Michele Moscaritoli For decades, Africa occupied a singular role in the global imagination: the perpetual recipient. Aid packages, charitable donations, development programs – always framed...
By Dishant Shah Viral videos of bare retail shelves across African cities tell a deceptively simple story. But these fleeting social media moments capture something far...
By Victory Azimih For centuries, Africa has endured the label “the dark continent” – a phrase that speaks not to any absence of value, but to...
By Danilo Desiderio The global trading system is fracturing, and Africa faces a pivotal choice: become a strategic player or remain a passive bystander in a...
By Danilo Desiderio The persistent shortfall in domestic savings represents one of the most binding structural constraints on Africa’s long-term growth and economic transformation. Sub-Saharan Africa...
By Apollo Buregyeya True economic development demands competence over charisma, and infrastructure over influence. Politicians don’t build nations – they often break them. Captains of industry...
By Gregory September China has crossed a historic threshold: a US$1 trillion trade surplus. Even as exports to the United States decline sharply, the world’s second-largest...
By Apollo Buregyeya The 2024 Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) Statistical Abstract reveals a truth that Uganda’s industrial policymakers have studiously avoided confronting. The country’s cement...
By Kelly Mua Kingsly Africa proclaims the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as the world’s largest free-trade zone, spanning 1.4 billion people across 54 countries...
By Dishant Shah At first glance, the map appears to be nothing more than a transport plan: rail lines threading through the continent, ports dotting the...
By Danilo Desiderio The global energy conversation is undergoing a profound transformation. As the World Economic Forum recently highlighted, advanced economies are increasingly prioritizing energy security...
By Dishant Shah The world is fracturing along fault lines that would have seemed improbable a decade ago. US-China rivalry has escalated from trade tensions to...
By Danilo Desiderio For decades, a persistent narrative has shadowed Africa’s economic trajectory: the continent exports what it doesn’t consume and imports what it needs. A...
By Davida Ademuyiwa For more than a century, the physical architecture of the African economy was not designed for African prosperity. It was engineered for export...
By Danilo Desiderio As the world’s economic center of gravity tilts decisively from West to East, Africa finds itself at a defining historical juncture. The rise...
By Dishant Shah There is a quiet revolution unfolding across Africa – one paved not just with asphalt, but with ambition. At its heart are industrial...
By Danilo Desiderio As global trade grows increasingly fragmented, Africa stands at a crossroads. According to UNCTAD, average tariffs imposed by major economies – including the...
By Apollo Buregyeya When the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) began generating electricity in 2023, it marked more than an engineering triumph – it signaled a...
By Paul Nantulya Africa is at the center of rising global demand for critical minerals and metals such as lithium, graphite, cobalt, coltan, manganese, platinum, tantalum,...
By Danilo Desiderio On December 18 2023, the Financial Times published an article that had an international resonance, which argued that Africa cannot grow without increasing...
By Danilo Desiderio A new analysis of economic trends in 2025, published in Africa Confidential, predicts that the continent will experience faster growth this year, with...
By Mary Alorh The global fight against poverty and energy challenges heavily depends on progress within Africa. Currently, approximately 600 million people in Africa lack access...
By NJ Ayuk Wealthy nations have long leveraged their natural gas resources to foster economic resilience. By ensuring reliable energy supplies for their populations and industries,...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In the 1950s and 1960s, as African nations achieved independence, a crucial question arose for these emerging countries: which development strategy would...
By Danilo Desiderio In knowledge-based societies, manufacturing no longer holds the primary role in the economy that it once did. Many economists are now questioning the...
By Paul Nantulya The Ninth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), to be held in Beijing from September 4 to 6, takes place at a critical juncture....
By Rosemary Mnongya The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents considerable opportunities for the evolution and monetization of Africa’s trading sectors. Upon full implementation and...
In Africa, a potent force for advancement is stirring. Bursting with youthful talent and abundant resources, the continent stands on the cusp of a transformative journey:...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Right after the independence of many African states, the idea of development and the approach to it, took center stage in their...
By NJ Ayuk To meet their green agendas, the European Union, the US and China are engaged in the modern-day equivalent of a gold rush. This...
By Giza Mdoe The Exchange Africa | Green hydrogen, which is derived from a clean process of electrolyzation, has the potential to transform the energy landscape...
AfDB | The International Energy Agency projects that manufacturers of clean energy technologies will need forty times more lithium, twenty-five times more graphite, and about twenty...
By Gregory Simpkins Africa was the world’s cradle of civilization, and the people who left over the millennia (as well as those who remained) offered new...
Reuters | Ethiopian Airlines will start manufacturing aircraft parts in a venture with Boeing at an initial cost of US$15 million, the government’s investment agency said...
By Gregory Simpkins There has been a lot said and written about industrialization in Africa, including assigning blame as to why the continent lagged behind other...
African Business | The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) have signed a framework agreement with the Democratic Republic...
By Niamh Gaynor Economists have urged African countries to shift to low-cost manufacturing – the path that led countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea,...
Tanzania has floated East Africa’s largest-ever domestically manufactured freshwater passenger and cargo ship, the MV Mwanza Hapa Kazi Tu, on Lake Victoria. The ship, launched at...
By Weiwei Chen Common perceptions about Chinese engagement in Africa are that it is one-dimensional and sometimes biased. One common problem with this perception is the...
By Max Walter Industrial policy is seeing a revival in Africa and beyond. In fact, governments across the continent are now explicitly using a variety of...
Global intellectual property rights system constraining Africa's industrialization - Wamkele Mene
Nigeria’s interminable focus on fortifying its oil and gas sector could hamper its chance to diversify the economy. This is according to the 2014 Economic Report...
President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday said African leaders should prioritize the structural transformation of African economy if they must achieve regional industrialization initiative. Jonathan said this...
Remittances from Africans in the diaspora are now estimated at around US$60 billion annually and are said to have surpassed traditional western aid. While these help...
Aerial view of the semi-functional Inga dam on the Congo River. PHOTO/UNEP With an estimated cost of US$80 billion, the Grand Inga Hydropower Project in the...
