Businesses and investors are bullish on Africa. With so much room for development the problems that have long held the continent back from growth and prosperity are increasingly being seen as ripe business opportunities. It is resource-rich and endowed with a demographic dividend — approximately half of its one billion people are under the age of 20. Currently a handful of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies all hail from Africa.
This prompts the question “if you have a global strategy as a business, can you really afford to not have an Africa strategy?” which Solomon Asamoah, African Development Bank’s vice president of infrastructure, private sector and regional integration, raised at a recent investor summit.
Devex interviewed Asamoah at the Frontier 100 Forum hosted by the Initiative for Global Development, to understand the main connection points between private industry and the bank’s development goals. Here are the highlights:
About the author
Naki B. Mendozamfbmendoza
Naki is a former reporter, he covered the intersection of business and international development. Prior to Devex he was a Latin America reporter for Energy Intelligence covering corporate investments and political risks in the region’s energy sector. His previous assignments abroad have posted him throughout Europe, South America, and Australia.
