AFRICAN INVESTMENT INSIGHTS | 12 APRIL 2019 Africa can replicate Asia’s success story with the right policy initiatives Absa | Corporate and Investment Banking > Insights and Events > Africa can replicate Asia’s success story with the right policy initiatives Hasnen Varawalla Executive: Investment and Trading SHARE Africa has the potential to mirror the economic progress made by the Asian tigers more than a decade ago, provided governments persist with economic and financial reforms. The reforms required for Africa to mirror Asia’s economic success include investment in infrastructure and education. Regulatory and policy consistency will also be important, as will the continued strengthening of institutional capacity, which is necessary for sustained growth. The African/Asian similarities For more than a decade, China and India (and in years prior, the so-called ‘Asian tigers’) have experienced sustained growth rates supported by economic reforms and international investment, which lifted an estimated 1 billion people out of poverty. Similar to Africa, these countries also have a young, growing population, which offers a large workforce and a potential market, both of which were attractive to financial and industrial investors. For some years, Africa has demonstrated evidence of possessing all the necessary ingredients required to make the continent an economic success. Aside from its natural bounty of resources and arable land, Africa has a large young population, considering that more than 60% of the population is under 35. This alone makes Africa the biggest source of potential people power for the jobs of the future. As an example, as China continues to grow economically alongside demographic changes in that country, it is estimated that 80 million jobs will need to be exported by 2030. Africa could well be a natural home for this. But in order to exploit these opportunities, we need to ensure sustainability of current economic and financial reforms, as well as policy and regulatory certainty. Greater investment should be made in the education sector, particularly focusing on technology, which will increasingly play a major role in training the workforce of the future. Policies are required to make Africa an attractive investment destination Special Economic Zones were very effectively used in some countries at a similar stage of development. Attracting portfolio investments is a consequence of developing stock exchanges and financial infrastructure. Africa also needs to increase it savings rate alongside creating the products and services to catalyse these into productive investments. In this respect, Absa Corporate and Investment Bank sees itself continuing to play a leading and important role in helping Africa reach its potential. We have advised investors such as Berkshire Partners in their investment into Teraco, the leading provider of co-location data centre infrastructure in Africa. Our financing support of the Teraco business commenced in December 2014 and since then the business has multiplied its capacity by over six times. The African consumer growth story is still playing out. We have, in East Africa, advised on the sale of a leading oral care business to Unilever and continue to work across a number of promising strategic opportunities across this region. Critical to Africa’s growth is the development of its domestic capital markets. We advised on the listing of Vodacom Tanzania on the Dar es Salam stock exchange in the largest ever IPO in that country. 40, 000 retail investors, many of them investing in equities for the first time, participated in that IPO. The public policy objectives of Black Economic Empowerment are critical to the inclusive economic growth agenda of South Africa. We advised on the largest such transaction in the ICT sector acting for Yebo Yethu in relation to Vodacom. We have the expertise, including in-country presence and knowledge, to help large corporates and global companies to identify investment opportunities, and raise capital. Looking ahead we see ourselves building on these capabilities to help Africa achieve its ambitions. Hasnen VarawallaExecutive: Investment and Trading https://cib.absa.africa/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/file_example_MP3_700KB.mp3 Related Articles Commercial Property Insights East Africa property trends set to catalyse the market Positive GDP growth forecasts for Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya support the continued development of a robust commercial real estate economy despite macroeconomic and geopolitical tensions impacting the region. Read more Commercial Property Insights East African property is on the rise Despite the challenging economic environment experienced over the last three years, the East African property market is one that appears to be offering some exciting potential for patient investors. While Emerging Market property faces certain headwinds including inflationary pressures, rising global interest rates and liquidity squeezes, there are reasons to feel optimistic about the sector as a whole. 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