Key Growth Industries in Africa
By ASV Client Relations
The following industries are experiencing impressive growth in the continent – Healthcare, Energy, and Automotive, respectively. Hence, an array of invaluable trade and investment opportunities continue to arise – for international stakeholders.
Some pertinent undertakings that are spurring this growth are linked to the Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the JSE top 40 companies index.
Overall, Africa’s growth potential has continued to increase, with international stakeholders, i.e., companies and investors – tapping into varied trade and investment opportunities. Some of the major strengths within the continent that continue to attract these international stakeholders comprise an abundance of natural resources, a young growing population, and a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit.
Here is a breakdown of the industries that continue to present invaluable trade and investment opportunities to international stakeholders.
Healthcare
Due to the lack of sufficient universal healthcare provisions, a large proportion of the population is locked-out of affordable and accessible healthcare services. Hence, the unfortunate result has been an increased mortality rate and a low life expectancy.
To mitigate these dire consequences, governments have rolled-out a slew of national healthcare insurance plans – to widen the scope of access to affordable and quality healthcare services. Nonetheless, a significant deficit still exists, and, as a result – presents attractive trade and investment opportunities for similar products from the private-sector.
Correspondingly, the pharmaceutical industry presents attractive trade and investment opportunities. This development is spurred by the growing demand for affordable generic drugs.
Energy
The continent’s energy infrastructure still needs significant development. Particularly, whilst recognising that almost half of the population still lacks access to reliable sources of energy.
This discrepancy opens-up impressive trade and investment opportunities, in particular, within the renewable energy space. These encompass biogas, solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal energy sources. An added advantage is that renewable energy helps to mitigate environmental degradation – which is a major issue around the globe.
An array of international stakeholders continue to tap-into these impressive opportunities. E.g., African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) has, hitherto, invested in various renewable energy projects within the continent that include the 50MW Kipeto wind power project in Kenya, and the 78MW Bokpoort concentrated solar power project in South Africa. Another representative example is from Actis, which is a renowned investor in growth markets. They have invested in the Lake Turkana Wind Power project in Kenya, and the Azura Edo Power Plant in Nigeria.
Automotive
The following key developments are supporting increased growth within the African automotive industry. Sustained domestic demand for vehicles, improvements in foreign investment, regional trade, and the implementation of enabling policies.
Following these key interventions, several multinational vehicle manufacturers continue to establish operations within the continent. Furthermore, global environmental protection policies focused on environmental sustainability – have added to the growth of the industry, whilst attracting viable arrays of FDI’s.
Some of the main countries that are markedly benefiting from this growth include Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Morocco.
Contact us for further information on how to successfully tap into these viable Trade and Investment opportunities within the continent.
Email. info@africansv.com
Tel. +44 (0) 333 567 0779
Key References
African Strategic-Ventures (ASV) Ltd. (2023).
Nation Media Group. (2023)
