Thursday, May 26, 2011

Perhaps Africans WILL save Africa

Last October, I wrote a post entitled Will Africans save Africa? which was sourced from a post on CNN's Business 360.

Well, I just read another Business 360 post, which includes the findings from a survey by Ernst & Young on the attractiveness of Africa for business.

The firm polled 500 companies from around the world, as well as Africans themselves, and found that - no surprises here - Africa is becoming increasingly attractive to international investors.

But then it says:

What will cheer many within the continent is the huge optimism Africans feel towards business opportunities in their own backyard. Africans themselves are leading the growth in investment.

However, the investments are selective:

[T]hree quarters of foreign direct investment was in just 10 countries, out of a continent of more than 50 states.

Although CNN didn't name the countries, an Ernst & Young press release did:

Ten African countries attracted 70% of the new FDI projects in Africa between 2003 and 2010 (South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Angola, Kenya, Libya, Ghana).

An intersting list, since more recent events have shown instability in three of the countries listed - Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. How will the more recent events affect future investment in these countries?
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