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I spoke with Business of Fashion about “Africa's $20 Billion E-Commerce Opportunity” and noted that opportunity for homegrown e-commerce brands on the continent to aggregate local luxury brands and tap into the international market. You can read more here.
Interested in learning more about Africa’s creative and cultural industries? Read the latest Botho Group report, guest-edited by me, on unlocking expanding opportunities in the sector.
Fashion is big business in Africa. Today, the region’s apparel and footwear market is worth an estimated US $31 billion. From the cultivation of raw materials to finished products, millions of jobs exist along this fast-growing value chain. Rising interest in African culture on the continent and in the diaspora coupled with a growing, mobile-first middle class has driven a rise in interest in Africa-inspired design and locally-produced goods across many countries.
As #MadeinAfrica makes a bigger statement, I shared a list of African designers shaping the trends on catwalks from Abidjan to Kinshasa for Botho Emerging Markets Group, where I’m Esther Ocloo Fellow.
In the wake of recent protests following the death of George Floyd, it is clearer than ever that companies must become the change they tweet and hashtag about. Organizations that commit to doing this must adopt a philosophy of anti-racism, which describes the active process of “identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices, and attitudes to redistribute and share power equitably.”
I shared some tangible steps that organizations can take towards being the change they wish to promote in a recent Medium article. Read more here.
As Africa heads towards recession, it’s not easy to know where to invest. I highlighted three areas that are likely to fare better during the downturn in a recent article for African Business Magazine.
Back in January, Africa’s economic outlook for the year was bright. African Development Bank projections predicted 3.9% growth in 2020 and 4.1% in 2021. But then, coronavirus upended the global economy.
Less than two months later, with only 61 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Africa, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) revised the continent’s growth projections downwards to 2%. Last week, The World Bank said that Africa is headed towards its first recession in 25 years.. These gloomy figures can largely be attributed to disrupted value chains, reduction in FDI and remittances, and direct hits to sectors such as tourism and oil.
While no industry can truly be recession-proof, tech-enabled sectors may be more likely to withstand these shocks. Digital technology is getting a boost as people find new ways to work and communicate and sectors take their services online. Read on here.
Coronavirus case counts are rising rapidly in Africa. At the time of writing, more than 11,400 cases and 574 deaths have been confirmed. According to Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, “COVID-19 has the potential not only to cause thousands of deaths, but to also unleash economic and social devastation.” From access to quality care to the availability of ventilators and testing, African countries face a unique challenge in fighting this pandemic. As public health officials ramp up prevention efforts while bracing for the worst, the region’s private sector is stepping up to the plate.
I shared a list of some innovative African companies giving back to their communities to help stop the spread for Botho Emerging Markets Group, where I’m Esther Ocloo Fellow.
In recent years, Sub-Saharan Africa has increasingly traded old friends, like the US and the European Union, for new ones in emerging markets. Since 2006, the region’s exports to the US have declined by 66%, while exports to countries such as Russia and Turkey have doubled and tripled respectively.
This shift in partnerships comes as Africa embarks on a new era buoyed by the promise of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the landmark free trade agreement that will become operational in 2020, as well as increased visa openness and harmonization of monetary policy through West Africa’s new Eco currency. African countries can and should start this decade by taking advantage of this progress to shift from reactive to proactive diplomacy by building new ties with vital emerging markets. Instead of a 21st-century scramble, for Africa, 2020 marks the beginning of 21st-century partnerships.
In this piece for the World Economic Forum, I cover how:
African countries are building new ties with emerging markets;
These alliances will be critical in 2020 against a backdrop of US-China trade tensions and policy uncertainty in the UK owing to Brexit;
In addition to China, India, Russia and the UAE are emerging as strong investment and trading partners that will shape Africa's economy.
