(5 minutes read )
· What that got headlines in the African press is not its
somewhat ambivalent participation at the 50th edition of World
Economic Forum, where political, industry and thought leaders had
tried to outsmart each other, but a less significant event held in
London-the UK-Africa Partnership Summit.
· To link everything linked to BREXIT may be an
oversimplification or for that matter attributing everything to new
Prime Minister Boris Johnson may be reading too little into the
developments.
· There is an apprehension among the ritish companies operating
in Africa that the surge of Chinese, the US and to a lesser extent by
the Russian companies would make a dent on their presence in Africa.
What that got headlines in the African press is not its somewhat
ambivalent participation at the 50th edition of World Economic Forum,
where political, industry and thought leaders had tried to outsmart
each other, but a less significant event held in London-the UK-Africa
Partnership Summit. Prince Harry had made a graceful presence at the
event and his comment that Africa is his second home would have
enthralled the audience, which consisted of several heads of state and
several ministers from the continent. Prince Charles’ Reception to the
attendees at the Buckingham Palace was another expression of
solidarity the erstwhile colonizer –Britain- had lent to Africa. It
augurs well that the UK-Africa Summit was attended by 15 heads of
state from Africa, a larger presence than the World Economic Forum.
Not many days ago, the French President Emmanuel Macron made a
presence in a few countries in the western Africa in his whirlwind
Africa trip to preside over the end of the era of Francophone Africa,
where eight countries in the region owed to discontinue the common
currency used in the region linked to the Franc and to terminate the
agreement to invest 50% of the surplus with the Central Bank of France
to be under its fiduciary control; a long tradition followed by the
colonized countries as a past relic of their unsavory past relation
with France since the then French President Charles de Gaulle. It is
a different matter the game plan orchestrated by some of the countries
in the region-eight in numbers led by Lesotho- failed to make the mark
with the Eco, the new currency on account of the resistance from six
countries led by Nigeria, though the reason behind the difference
more can be explained in terms of ego clash than sound economic or
sentimental reasoning. Yet, it stalled the march of the new currency,
Eco, at least for now.
These two may be independent events that are not interrelated. But
both the events signify the importance assigned to Africa by its
erstwhile rulers after a gap of several decades.
Why Britain is all poised to join the juggernaut of Africa-centric
policies? To link everything linked to BREXIT may be an
oversimplification or for that matter attributing everything to new
Prime Minister Boris Johnson may be reading too little into the
developments.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May in August 2018 led a delegation of
investors to Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria. She was the first
British prime minister to visit Sub-Saharan Africa since 2013. A trade
deal between the UK and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) plus
Mozambique was announced during her visit to beef up the trade and
investment between the UK and the six countries. There is an
apprehension among the ritish companies operating in Africa that the
surge of Chinese, the US and to a lesser extent by the Russian
companies would make a dent on their presence in Africa. Some of the
British companies have a huge presence in Africa and their list
include banks like HSBS, Barclays and Standard Chartered; oil
companies BP, Shell and Tullow; British Airways, Unilever, Vodafone,
Diageo, GlaxoSmithKline and the list is long . Britain has not hidden
its intention to encourage more and more British small and mid size
companies to make their presence in Africa.
A recent study says that the average productivity of the UK companies
that operate abroad and receive overseas investment is about £88,000
per worker per year, as against £44,000 for those who produce in
Britain. That way, evidence shows that UK companies that invest
overseas become more competitive and productive thanks mostly to huge
labor arbitrage.
London has identified a number of areas for overseas investments, such
as technology, finance, clean energy and agriculture. Some of them
are tailor made for Africa’s requirements. : has recently reported
about Diageo’s state-of-the-art brewery in Kenya, which is
environment friendly and can boost capacity, which in turn can support
many jobs both directly and indirectly. It is only a one off example.
There are similar cases in the case of clean energy, several fast
moving consumer goods, etc.
One thing is certain, Africa has added one more serious player to its
long list. It is only time which can tell where does the country once
upon time ruled the roost in the world since over centuries world has
discarded with contempt the colonial hangover and what all that went
with it. The latest game is competition, innovation and disruption.
