Africa is open for business

Africa is undergoing a profound economic transformation that challenges decades-old perceptions of the continent as merely a source of raw materials or a perpetual recipient of aid. Far from the outdated narratives of dependency and extraction, Africa is emerging as a dynamic hub of opportunity, institutional reform, and self-driven growth. As someone who has spent decades in Europe but recently returned from an extended business expedition across the continent from Côte d’Ivoire to Angola, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Morocco, and Egypt, I witnessed this shift firsthand. The story is no longer one of passive waiting; it is one of agency, ambition, and accelerating momentum.

Recent projections underscore this reality. According to the World Bank’s Africa’s Pulse report (October 2025), Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth is poised to reach 3.8 per cent in 2025, accelerating to an average of 4.4 per cent in 2026–27. The International Monetary Fund forecasts steady growth at around 4.1 per cent in 2025, with a modest pickup in 2026, while the United Nations’ World Economic Situation and Prospects 2026 projects continent-wide growth rising to 4.0 per cent in 2026 and 4.1 per cent in 2027. These figures outpace many global averages, driven by cooling inflation, rising domestic consumption, infrastructure investments, and expanding digital economies. East Africa, in particular, is expected to lead with rates around 5.8 per cent in 2026, fueled by strong performers like Ethiopia and Kenya.

At the heart of this resurgence lies the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), now several years into implementation. This landmark initiative connects 54 countries and over 1.4 billion people into the world’s largest free trade area by population. While intra-African trade has historically hovered between 15 per cent and 21 per cent of total trade, progress under AfCFTA is gaining traction.

Reports from Afreximbank and others indicate intra-African trade reached $192.2 billion in 2023, with a modest rise in its share of formal trade. Full implementation could boost intra-African exports by up to 45 per cent by 2045, adding hundreds of billions to GDP and fostering industrialisation in sectors like agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, automotive, and logistics. The Guided Trade Initiative has expanded to dozens of countries, and mechanisms like the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System are reducing reliance on external currencies for cross-border transactions.

This is not mere potential; it reflects concrete institutional building. African governments and private sectors are establishing frameworks for better trade facilitation, funding access, governance, and accountability. Countries are diversifying beyond resource extraction, investing in manufacturing, services, fintech, renewable energy, and digital infrastructure. In West Africa, new oil and gas production in Senegal and Niger, alongside reforms in Nigeria and Ghana, supports projected regional growth of around 4.2 per cent in 2026. Southern Africa’s financial hubs, like Johannesburg, continue to drive fintech and agriculture, while North Africa leverages ports and logistics for global connectivity.

A key driver is the growing role of the African diaspora. Remittances have long exceeded foreign aid and rivaled FDI, totalling tens of billions annually. Increasingly, however, diaspora professionals are shifting from transfers to direct investments. Platforms connecting diaspora capital to real estate, startups, and equities are emerging, with some markets delivering exceptional returns, such as West Africa’s BRVM stock exchange posting over 50 per cent gains in 2025. In Francophone West Africa alone, redirecting even a fraction of remittances could generate hundreds of millions in annual returns.

Return migration is creating a feedback loop: skills, networks, and capital flowing back to build industries serving a young, urbanising population hungry for housing, healthcare, education, and services.

Of course, challenges persist. Debt burdens, fiscal pressures, uneven implementation of reforms, climate vulnerabilities, and global uncertainties, including trade barriers and declining aid, require vigilant management. Yet the trajectory is clear: Africa is catching up after centuries of colonial legacies that oriented economies toward export of raw commodities with limited value addition. Today, Africans are not awaiting external salvation; they are constructing their own pathways to prosperity.

For international partners, particularly in Europe and beyond, this moment demands a recalibrated approach. Africa is open for equitable business, not as a charity case or resource pit, but as a partner with immense untapped markets and a demographic dividend that will shape the global economy for decades. Investments in high-potential sectors like renewables, agritech, fintech, and infrastructure can yield mutual benefits while supporting sustainable development.

Africa has humbled and inspired me. Its people are no longer defined by conflict or famine in dominant narratives; they are entrepreneurs, innovators, and institution-builders forging a new era. A brighter economic dawn is not just coming, it is already here, propelled by African agency and resolve. The continent is truly open for business, and the opportunities for those who engage on fair terms are boundless.

Honorary Ambassador of the Pan African Parliament for Diaspora Affairs and Euro-American Strategic Investments, and President of A2S International

BY AMBASSADOR ABDOU SAMB

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