Are African Investments Viable Or Not

By Jeremy Carden

When one takes a look at the amount of foreign aid that has streamed into African investments it is rather staggering as no country in the world has had over three billion pumped into it. Although Africa has never really thrived and is the poorest continent over the last few years Africa has really deteriorated and recent statistics show that Africa only accounts for a total of two percent of global production.

Professional people are continuously immigrating and every year around twenty thousand people leave the African continent especially in Southern Africa. In spite of the billions that has been invested in Africa most of the continent is effectively bankrupt due to debt and corruption within the government departments.

Over the last two years Africa has not shown a significant export market value as the agricultural sector has dropped a further twenty five percent and this is an area which has been seriously neglected over the recent years. The only feasible sectors for African investments states world economic experts is agriculture as the processing is ripe in this area for potential investors. Then there is also infrastructure and telecommunications which would bring good returns.

There are many opportunities and interesting insights for investors in the under developed but saturated markets of sub Saharan Africa with regards to mobile penetration and the 3G license boom in North Africa as well as South Africa that has only three mobile networks and one telecommunication service being Telkom.

Morocco was the first country in Africa to launch the IPTV service and sceptics are worried about the impact expansion will have on the WIMAX due to the heavy service convergence and how it will affect the other countries in Africa. 's telecom sector. Sudan. 's telecom area is still virginal and unexplored in spite of millions be brought in by the overseas sectors. In spite of the political unrest and oil prices dropping Sudan has vast growth potential.

When looking at african investment one needs to look at the infrastructure crisis in Africa as an opportunity rather than looking at the limitations. There are millions of Africans that do not have access to clean water for drinking purposes and many more that are deprived of proper sanitation facilities. If one makes a comparison to the minimal water supply that is used for the purposes of industrial, agricultural as well as hydro electrical power and residential usage only amounts to four percent.

Statistics have revealed that in modern times there are still around forty percent or more Africans that are totally illiterate and that the African continent alone accounts for a staggering 70% of HIV infected people causing the populations life expectancy to decrease rapidly and it has also been noted that Africa is at the very bottom of the list when it comes to human development and this was stated by the UNDP recently.

As long as investors are prepared to take risks there are numerous opportunities and return from African Investments as Africa is an emerging market as opposed to other markets which have been saturated with investors and the African continent does not have a very high level of competition. The potential of Africa has already been identified by a few countries which have realized that Africa is on the radar. Telecommunications, consumer products, banking as well as infrastructure is extremely attractive African investments for private investors. - 23210

About the Author:

Want to find out more about african investment, then visit the African Infrastructure and Global Connection's (AI&GC) site on how to choose begin investing in this economy.