Why I am optimistic about Africa

By Brett Parker

 When asked why I am so optimistic about Africa my answer is simple: look at how far we have come and look at how fast we are moving forward.

For several years, Africa’s rise made headlines across the globe. A bruised world economy looked for new spaces of vitality, and the African continent was the ideal candidate.
Registering an average gross domestic product (GDP) growth of over 5 percent, Africa appeared to be the next big thing on the global stage.
The word “renaissance” was soon appended to the narrative.

While those predictions have not quite come to fruition, it is unwise and short-sighted to ignore it is steady and unstoppable rise toward the center of the world stage.

A new global giant

By 2050, it is estimated that Africa will boast a US$29 trillion economy. On the way, it will pass the 1 billion population mark somewhere around 2040, giving rise to the largest and most youthful workforce in the world.

According to the World Bank estimates, this demographic could generate 11 – 15 percent GDP growth between 2011 and 2030.
With adequate investment in skills development and training, sub-Saharan Africa could add up to US$500 billion every year to its economies: the equivalent of one-third of the continent’s current GDP.

Central to unlocking this growth is the matter of skills development. Here, I see immense promise in the growing pool of projects bringing technology skills to schools everywhere with innovations including container classrooms and maker hubs. Tertiary skills are also being reinforced through partnerships with universities, as well as award-winning programs such as SAP Africa’s Skills for Africa and Africa Code Week, the latter which trained over 86,000 youngsters in basic coding skills last year.

Unmatched innovation

On the innovation front, Africa is also growing at rapid speed. According to research presented by the World Economic Forum, there are roughly 200 African innovation hubs, 3,500 new tech-related ventures, and US$1 billion spent in venture capital. In 2016, start-up investments were up 17 percent from the previous year.

Africa is modernizing at an unmatched rate. Its tremendous mobile device adoption proves this fact. African companies and people simply accept that new technologies will improve their lives and if what they need does not exist, they will create it. From new solar power systems to the much-celebrated M-Pesa mobile banking, Africa innovates at the edge.
While other countries wonder about delivering packages with quadcopters, we are already pioneering intelligent drone systems sophisticated enough to track poachers. It was an African student who developed a new rocket fuel – in his mother’s rural kitchen!

Partnerships unlocking value and growth

But this is not a services revolution. Africa’s resources and agriculture remains important. They benefit acutely from innovation. One example is the partnership between SAP and GIZ, developing systems used by cashew farmers in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Ghana, and Mozambique to better manage their supply chain.

Thanks to the continent’s demand for hardy and meaningful technology, which is being driven by partnerships that reinforce Africa’s role in creating a better world, Africa is where others will look for the best in new innovation. The SAP Rural Sourcing Management solution is one direct result of this. Refined on African farms, it will serve as a blueprint to meet agriculture and food challenges across the world.

I believe that Africa will emerge to be the 3rd center of global power, settled in between the worlds of the east and west.
The world needs Africa. It needs its resources, its people, its skills and its insights. Africa is rising to meet those expectations. Yes, it has not been a smooth ride, but the winds of change are blowing in the right direction. This will be Africa’s century.

Brett Parker is the Managing Director of SAP Africa