8 African nations are currently involved in serious armed conflicts.
Africa also has 17 of the 20 poorest nations in the world and an Ebola outbreak.
Yet despite all of that, at the African Summit recently held in Washington DC President Obama
announced a $14 Billion dollar commitment to Africa from various US corporations.
This isn’t money going toward humanitarian aide or economic relief.
It will be spent by US businesses to set up opportunities and infrastructure with the
sole goal of expanding into new African markets.
So, is Africa a poor war torn continent with huge problems like disease?
Or is it the next boomtown for savvy business people?
Well, it’s really not that simple.
The economic standing and political stability of African nations vary widely.
There are places like the Democratic Republic Of Congo that have been war torn for decades
and are showing little economic growth.
Right next to places like Angola, which has had the same President since 1979, however
corrupt he may be, and is showing extreme growth.
Last decade Angola’s GDP grew at 11.1 percent per year, which is the highest growth of any
nation worldwide.
This is partially due to their vast supply of natural resources.
Partially due to a large investment in Angola from China, to monetize those resources, developing
a healthy trade partnership along the way.
And partially due to the fact that Angola’s economy started at the bottom and had a lot
of room to grow.
Before stability reached Angola in the early 80’s they were a war torn nation with no
economic growth.
And that’s the thing about economic growth.
Poor or war-torn nations with huge problems, are the nations with potential for enormous
economic growth.
It sounds wrong and some would argue that it is morally problematic, but it is a reality
of the current economic landscape.
China has a recent history of investing in these types of nations and now their annual
trade across all of Africa is about $200 billion.
That is almos t twice as much as the US and it’s a gap that American businesses would
like to close.
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