With its youthful population and abundant mineral and energy resources, Africa is brimming over with opportunities. But the continent will only realise its full potential if the private sector takes a leading role in addressing the roadblocks to growth and investment.
This was the key message to emerge from the panel discussions at the 12th edition of The European House – Ambrosetti (TEHA) CEO Dialogue on Southern Africa, a two-day forum that brought together more than 150 CEOs, policymakers and thought leaders to address the continent’s economic future.
In his opening remarks of the Views on African Business panel discussion, Lebogang Maile, Member of the Executive Council for Finance and Economic Development for Gauteng, told delegates that Africa today stands at the threshold of a historic economic transformation.
Delegates recognised that Africa has a historic opportunity, with the continent set to be home to 2.5 billion people by 2050 or more than a quarter of the world’s population, according to the United Nations. The World Bank forecasts that sub-Saharan Africa will be one of the fastest-growing regions in the world over the next few years.
Yet Africa faces significant obstacles in realising its full potential. CEOs and business leaders in the panel identified uneven productivity, high unemployment, energy deficits, inefficient logistics and inconsistent regulatory environments as among the continent’s most pressing challenges.
The CEO Dialogue aims to facilitate collaboration between African and European public and private sectors as well as address regional challenges and strengthen economic ties through investment. The clear message from the Dialogue was that international trade and private sector involvement are essential to driving growth.
Pietro Mininni, TEHA Africa CEO, said the private sector can, and must, be involved in helping Africa address its challenges. “As a long-standing trade partner with Africa, Italy and Europe believe that it is of the utmost importance that we aid Africa in achieving its potential,” he added.
The European Union is the Southern African Development Community’s second-largest trading partner, according to TEHA calculations based on United Nations Conference on Trade and Development data. Deeper trade ties and concerted effort from stakeholders across Africa and Europe can thus help to catalyse growth and development.
“The private sector is the driving force of Africa’s economy. Its scale and reach make it indispensable not only to economic growth, but also to innovation, social progress and resilience,” Mininni said. “As Africa continues to define its own development agenda, stronger consultation between business and government is essential.”
Maile agreed that while Africa is rising, “the pace and inclusivity of this rise will depend on the quality of partnerships, the depth of national intervention, and the ability to scale investment at speed”. To that end, leaders at the Dialogue signed the CEO Manifesto on the Future of African Business.
This is a commitment to helping the continent overcome its most pressing issues to become an indisputable global force. The Manifesto sets out how businesses will cooperate with each other and with governments in SADC across 10 strategic priorities such as infrastructure development, gender equality and SME financing.