Africa, a continent of more hope

AFRICA was once regarded as a continent with no hope. With some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, Africa has become the newest destination for emerging markets.

What are the investment opportunities in Africa? Over the past decades, Africa has explored great depths for its rise in economic growth and investment opportunities.

While Africa offers great returns compared to most emerging market economies, it cannot be considered as a solitary performing body.

The continent bears 54 distinct economies that are weighed with challenges and opportunities significant to their economic activities and operating environments — the two most crucial inputs to investment.

These economies have continued to support their nations and the world at large with their natural resources, skills and labour, but what are some of the untapped investment opportunities in Africa?

The continent is incredibly rich in natural resources. It has huge, untapped reserves of natural gas and oil (10% of world’s reserves) and largely unexploited hydroelectric power.

It is home to vast gold, platinum, uranium, iron ore, copper and diamond reserves.

Currently, only 10% of Africa’s arable land is being cultivated, yet it holds around 60% of the world’s arable land.

As such, Africa has become a magnet for foreign direct investment.

The continent has a global comparative advantage in agriculture, being home to more than half the world’s agriculturally suitable and highly unused land, and its vast water resources have hardly been tapped.

About 60% of the world’s uncultivated land is in Africa, while the continent is only responsible for 10% of the world’s agricultural produce.

Agriculture as an untapped investment opportunity is set to be a major growth driver over the next few years, surpassing mining and metals.

South-east Asia has become uncompetitive and expensive for doing agribusiness; it’s time for Africa to take advantage of this opportunity.

Reliable and affordable energy lies at the forefront of Africa’s pursuits to elevate economic growth and sustain the needs of an increased urbanised population.

Many African nations struggle with high costs, low capacity and constant power outages.

The majority of regions in SubSaharan Africa are putting extra efforts into expanding their transport networks.