Over the past few years, Africa and other emerging market economies spurred by the rising middle class, extractive industries dependant on natural resources like oil, and foreign investment have dominated the editorials of financial and economic news and conferences. Different groups incessantly spew out cooler than cool and hotter than hot data about Africa that has such calming fragrance that I ,someone who is often fed up with the negative caricatures about Africa, do welcome. McKinsey reports that African consumer industry is expected to grow by $400 billion by 2020. Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are among the fastest growing countries in the world; at least six of the world’s top ten fastest growing economies are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Sometimes, in some places, the statistic appears accurate and real on the surface. I was in Ghana last year. I was amazed at the changes in several sectors of the economy and society. I witnessed an increasing growth of consumption industries in the category of telecommunication, internet services, financial services, high-end grocery, clothing and apparel in the big cities like Accra and Kumasi. Cinema halls are enthusiastically patronized by the so-called middle class with fat wallets and purses. Not bad at all. Really welcome.
Unfortunately, however, as soon as I drove out of the cities into the outskirts of the country, everything I’ve read and heard appeared like hype and not hope. Continue reading “The Emerging, Booming, Rising Stories of Africa: Hype or Hope?”
