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A foreign asset for developing Africa is understanding that in a global economy, the way to move forward is a collective mindset. Both the voluntary and involuntary African diaspora have many opportunities to serve African countries by partnering with African governments and the private sector.
A Few Facts
Interesting is the fact that the international monetary fund (IMF) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) confirm that Africa’s collective growth and sustainability is dependent upon two-measure things. One, the opening up of African economies and second, the diaspora playing an active and positive role in Africas’ public and government sectors. Both are interconnected. The public sector could not create and sustain an upward trajectory in the growth of the Continent. Post-1990s, the African polity with serious policy changes have encouraged the African diaspora to establish entrepreneurship and partnerships in the private sectors.
Capacity building in the private sector, along with governmental support, has seen many development projects and modernized infrastructure come up. These types of projects will provide much-needed education, entrepreneurial, and financial services, all leading towards a competitor market – more investments from outside the Continent. Once a conglomerate, as such, is established, public-private partnerships with government involvement, African countries will be in a better position to achieve regional and international business integration for more robust economies. Free movement of goods and people also encourage investment, and Africa must take pointer.
Keeping these pointers in mind, African leaders are reforming and forming many trade blocs, such as The Sudan Development African Community (SADC), the Community of Sahil, Saharan State (SUNSAD), and the Economic Community of Western African State (ECOWAS). And what so many Pan-Africanist have envisaged since the 1950s, in 2019 the African Union launched Africa’s new free trade area – Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Impressively, AfCFTA will be the world’s largest free trade area by the number of countries once it’s entirely up and running.
A single market for goods and services across 54 countries, allowing the movement of business travelers and investments, and a created continental customs union to streamline trade and attract long-term investment. The 1.27 billion people, plus the voluntary and involuntary diaspora returning to Africa, can prove critical for growth and job creation. For AfCFTA to be effective, it is imperative to eliminate unnecessary tariffs, remove trade barriers by harmonizing regulations, and to create a one-stop border. These kinds of implementations will surely help AfCFTA achieve successes and gains in similar ways as the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) has.
Opportunities and Challenges
Recent economic and trade activities in the region are praiseworthy, despite few lingering challenges. National interest still reigns supreme, but there are some INGOs conflicts in their regulations and benefits. Often requiring political interventions.
Standardization of regulations, currency controls, high cost of doing business, and non-tariff barriers still need to be smooth out. Despite these impediments’ multinationals like the United Bank of Africa, MTN, and Shoprite have made clean profits. Red tape, conflicting policies, antiquated processes, and additional documentation requirements also remain an art of African culture, which prohibits easing African trade.
Room for Growth and the Diaspora
Many local African enterprises have successfully partnered with diaspora Africans to bring the precious amount of investment in countries, significantly boosting trade and profit. Wherever such a conglomerate has occurred, the African governments have remained critically instrumental in facilitating it.
The economic growth potential of African regions is enormous in many sectors, like raw material and resources, construction, manufacturing, and energy. The private sector is consistently in search of encouraging the African diaspora to deploy their capital investment to create mutually beneficial partnerships. African Americans, the involuntary diasporans is a group that could contribute significantly to the advancement of Africa in many ways. For instance, through investment in the region, advocacy for Africa with their home government, and providing essential skills and experiences that could fill capacity gaps on the Continent if appropriate engagement modalities were in place. This very phenomenon is known as Afri-capitalism, which states that the African private sector and government can transform the Continent by attracting the African business diaspora to complete the triad. Exercising such formulas needs serious streamlining and a strong community to thrive. Hence, it is incumbent upon African leaders to think and act beyond borders and engage the diaspora to build an economy of scale.
