Seeds of Opportunity: The African Growth Series
May 2023 | Issue 4
In this week's issue, you will learn more about:
- AFRICA TREND: Rwanda and Ethiopia's Investment Growth
- BUSINESS DAY TV INTERVIEW: Investment into Africa's Water and Sanitation Sector
- AFRICA TREND: AI & NLP in Healthcare
- AFRICA TREND: Growth in South Africa's Construction Industry
- UPCOMING EVENT: Big 5 Construct Southern Africa
- UPCOMING EVENT: The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Conference 2023
AFRICA TREND: Rwanda and Ethiopia's Investment Growth
East African economies continue to rise as growing destinations for investments, supported by a wave of innovation and maturing start-up culture. Growing spotlight markets in East Africa include Ethiopia and Rwanda, in addition to more developed economies such as Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Overall, East Africa's economic outlook flared higher in a regional analysis by the African Development Bank for 2021 and 2022. East Africa's economic growth was moderated to 4.2% in 2022 from 5.1% in 2021, with most countries being impacted by high international import prices. Returning to pre-pandemic levels across the board is still a challenge, but Rwanda and Ethiopia are on the path to attracting more investment regionally and internationally. Recent statistics reveal that Ethiopia's direct investments from neighboring Kenya rose to $440.7 million in 2021, toppling Tanzania and Uganda as Kenya's key investment destination markets. For alone 2023, Rwanda projects to attract $3 billion in new investments through Rwanda's Development Board. This comes after a $1.6 billion total investment achieved in 2022. High-priority sectors that can potentially benefit from these in 2023 include manufacturing, agro-processing, construction, ICT, tourism, and mining.
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BUSINESS DAY TV INTERVIEW: Investment into Africa's Water and Sanitation Sector
Africa is set to miss its 2030 target of universal access to safe, affordable drinking water and equitable sanitation, due to an annual investment deficit of nearly $50 billion. BusinessDay TV spoke to Yaa (Agyare - Dwomoh) Ngonyama, Consultant at Frost & Sullivan Africa to gain more insight into the water crisis Africa is currently facing and what needs to be done to achieve water security in Africa.
Frost & Sullivan Africa has tracked water and sanitation infrastructure investment projects. It has noted a renewed commitment to water and sanitation, indicating a positive outlook for infrastructure investment in this sector. These trends have been detailed in a report on Africa's Investment Potential in Water & Sanitation as part of its partnership with Africa investor.
If you are interested in gaining access to the full database of infrastructure projects, don't hesitate to contact Lynne Martin at lynne.martin@frost.com for a subscription quotation.
To watch the interview, please click here https://youtu.be/qreFJZSFuVc.
To read more, please click here https://lnkd.in/dNSPuh8R.
AFRICA TREND: AI & NLP in Healthcare
Forecasts indicate that the global artificial intelligence (AI) in the healthcare market will increase over 15-fold from $11 billion in 2021 to close to $188 billion by 2030. AI is a broad field aiming to create machines or software that perform tasks that usually require human intelligence. Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a subfield of AI aimed at improving computer-language interaction. The use of this technology is growing in Africa as it can help people communicate across various languages and borders.
Intron Health uses NLP to improve access to healthcare across the continent. The Nigerian firm developed a pioneering speech-to-text AI chat tool that comprehends over 200 African accents. The tool's database used 1 million clips from over 7,000 Africans from 13 countries. This enables doctors who use the app to accelerate their clinical documentation pace sixfold. Africa is home to approximately one-third of the world's languages, with almost 2000 languages. Various AI tools are unveiling and improving communication across these languages. Hence, over 2,400 AI-driven companies operate across sectors such as healthcare and wellness, agriculture, law, education, and insurance.
AFRICA TREND: Growth in South Africa's Construction Industry
The South African Construction Industry has recently been encouraged by the progress made by implementing various infrastructure projects throughout the county. As announced during his State of the National Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the government’s infrastructure build program had gained momentum through the work of the Infrastructure Fund. By January 2023, projects worth R232 billion were under construction, while projects worth nearly R4 billion had been completed. Some of these completed projects included new human settlements in Gauteng, road upgrades, and small harbours development. Road Construction saw some of the biggest infrastructure developments in the country, with SANRAL awarding a whopping 323 tenders to the value of R59 billion by the close of its 2022/2023 financial year. This is significantly up from the previous year, which saw the agency make awards to the tune of R22 billion. Construction companies such as Raubex have been encouraged by SANRAL’s increased activity which has further benefitted SMMEs and communities through large-scale job creation, skills development, and poverty relief.
The President and SANRAL have acknowledged the lack of technical skills and project management; however, Infrastructure South Africa has allocated R600 million for project preparation, specifically in rural and under-resourced areas.
UPCOMING EVENT: Big 5 Construct Southern Africa
Frost & Sullivan Africa Consultant Yaa (Agyare - Dwomoh) Ngonyama will participate in a panel titled ''Investigating renewable energy sources and sustainable energy solutions for power smart cities in Africa'' at the Big 5 Construct Southern Africa on 28 June.
If you’re looking for the latest products and innovative technologies in the construction industry then you should attend Big 5 Construct Southern Africa.
Welcoming thousands of construction industry professionals, the event has an excellent line-up of over 200 local and international exhibitors, who will be showcasing thousands of products and technologies.
Register now for your free pass at https://bit.ly/3LmJzvE and save time by finding the right solutions for your business, all under one roof.
📍 GALLAGHER CONVENTION CENTRE
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
📅 27-29 JUNE 2023
UPCOMING EVENT: The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Conference 2023
Frost & Sullivan Africa is excited to participate in this year's The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Conference 2023 on 28-29 June 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. The AfCFTA Conference will present the Agreement, the opportunities it creates, the anticipated economic benefits, and potential pitfalls.
Join Research Director for Frost & Sullivan Africa, Craig Parker, on 29 June at 09h00 as he presents on ''Logistics Infrastructure is the Cornerstone to Sustainable African Trade''.
Click here to register: https://lnkd.in/dXwUnEtm.
For further inquiries, please get in touch with Mr. Mlambo on +2721 556 9253, alternatively WhatsApp on +2779 013 7629.
To find out more about opportunities in Africa, please get in touch with Lynne Martin.
