Masire inspires future African leaders
| Monday August 25, 2014 17:19
It is true that Africa is a place with peculiar set of challenges. The fact is if you are only looking for problems in Africa, you will find them in abundance. But equally true is that if you are looking for real prospects and opportunities, there is no better place than Africa.
For those who might be unaware, Sub-Saharan Africa is the second fastest growing region globally after emerging Asia.
The United Nations’ World Economic Situation and Prospects for 2014 indicates that Africa’s growth prospects remain relatively robust and should continue to increase. After an estimated growth of 4.0 percent in 2013, as measured by Gross Domestic Product, economic growth in Africa is projected to accelerate to 4.7 percent in 2014, and 5.0 percent in 2015.
Many Africans are joining the ranks of the world’s consumers. In 2000, roughly 59 million households on the continent had US$5,000. By 2014, the number of such households could reach 106 million. Africa already has more middle-class households (defined as those with incomes of $20,000 or above) than India. Africa’s rising consumption will create more demand for local products, sparking a cycle of increasing domestic growth.
A number of studies now suggest that if recent trends continue, Africa will play an increasingly important role in the global economy. By 2040, it will be home to one in five of the planet’s young people, and the size of its labour force will top China’s. Africa has almost 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land and a large share of the natural resources.
Its consumer-facing sectors are growing two to three times faster than those in the OECD countries. And the rate of return on foreign investment is higher in Africa than in any other developing region. Global executives and investors cannot afford to ignore this. A strategy for Africa must be part of their long-term planning.
Many can borrow a leaf from Barclays Bank, which has made a deliberate policy decision to invest in the human resource development of Africa’s young leaders. What Barclays Bank is doing through this Development Programme is crucial because business can help build the Africa of the future. And working together, business, governments, and civil society can confront the continent’s many challenges and lift the living standards of its people.
I have previously met young people such as yourselves who truly want to make this Africa’s Age. The entrepreneurial spirit is evident everywhere. More than ever before, Africa needs all its brain power here at home. If indeed this is going to be Africa’s Age, you are the ones who are going to make that dream happen. My generation has played its part, and passed on the baton.
By virtue of you being in this programme, soon the baton shall pass on to you, and you better not drop it. Part of the problem with our continent today is that so many of the people who were entrusted with the baton dropped it.
In conclusion every generation confronts its own challenges, and how you respond to those challenges determines the level of your success, and by extension your legacy.
(Sir Ketumile Masire was the guest of honour at the official Opening of the Barclay’s Pan African Graduate Programme in Gaborone)