Browsing: Africa’s population

Most African countries lag behind the rest of the world in the coverage of key infrastructure classes including energy, road and rail transportation, together with water infrastructure. Development of Africa’s infrastructure has been met by colossal roadblocks, which have largely stemmed from the endemic systemic corruption that continues to ail the continent, making it one of the biggest hurdles to development. Consequently, this has made attracting foreign investment a nightmare.

This further affirms the description by McKinsey and Company that the continent faces an infrastructure paradox whereby Africa’s track record in moving projects to financial close is poor. Despite the high demand for projects, sufficient supply of capital and investors, coupled with voluminous potential projects there is insufficient investment in infrastructure projects within the region. 

Presently, more than two-thirds of the global population without access to electricity is in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is an equivalence of 600 million people. For …

On the 1^st of October 2020, the Global System Mobile Association (GSMA) released their “Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa” report which forecasted the mobile economy in Africa into 2025.[1] A positive outlook to start the month of October and the last quarter of 2020.

The highlight of this forecast is that by 2025, even with 1.05 billion sim connections and 614  million unique mobile subscribers and smartphone adoption reaching 65% of the total population, only 39% of Africans would be experiencing their mobile web on those smartphones. This seems to suggest that even though there would be exponential smartphone growth over the period the cost of connectivity may be a showstopper. That’s not necessarily the case because there’s more happening than meets the eye.

The Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are going to spend collectively about $52 billion on infrastructure between now and 2025 and this would grow their revenues …

Africa has so far escaped the worst health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the continent looks like it could be the worst hit from the economic fallout of the crisis: 80 million Africans could be pushed into extreme poverty if action is not taken. And disruptions in food systems raise the prospect of more Africans falling into hunger. Rural people, many of whom work on small-scale farms, are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of the crisis. It is therefore vital that the COVID-19 response address food security and target the rural poor.

At this time, the international development agenda is prioritizing health, economies and infrastructure. But there must also be a focus on food security, agribusiness and rural development. This is especially important on the African continent.

Agriculture contributes 65 per cent of Africa’s employment and 75 per cent of its domestic trade. However, the rich potential of agriculture …