Sub-Saharan Africa is comprised of 46 countries and over 960 million people. The region has the world’s largest untapped natural resources, youngest population by 2050 and considerable capacity to provide stable food supply globally.

In the past 20 years Sub-Saharan Africa has benefited from improved communication and globalisation resulting in enhanced leadership and governance. South Africa is set to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Economy

Despite a recent slowdown due to the sharp decline in global commodity prices, economic growth is forecast at 3.5%. The two largest economies, Nigeria and South Africa account for over 63% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s total GDP.

There has been substantial progress in financial development, including mobile payments technology and the emergence of Pan-African banks. The IMF forecast that this financial development could add a further 1.5% to regional economic growth. The improved business environment in specific countries and favourable demographics can support growth drivers in the medium-term.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s long term growth will be driven by a combination of mineral, oil and gas and land resources and its unique demography.

Trade

There are significant long-term opportunities in the region for Queensland agribusiness capabilities.

For example, the east African coastal food bowl has access to abundant supplies of fresh water, and if overlaid onto Australia, would cover an area stretching from Townsville to Melbourne and Mt Isa to Adelaide.

Increasing international concerns over global food security are driving the development of African arable land and investment in agricultural infrastructure and associated industries, with significant investment from sovereign wealth funds via the Gulf.

Akosombo Hydroelectric Power Station on the Volta River supplies with energy almost whole Ghana and half of Togo, West Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa opportunities

CurrentMid termLong term

Current

  • METS & Mining
  • Agribusiness – technology and services
  • Vocational education
  • Tertiary education

Mid term

  • Education & training
  • Innovative technology
  • Infrastructure & construction – particularly power, ports and rail.

Long term

  • Agricultural services
  • Renewable energy
  • Oil and Gas ETS

Sector opportunities…for education only

Estimated 200+ ASX-listed companies

Mining

Pipeline of mining investment across targeted Sub-Saharan African markets is in the billions.

Common issues include

  • suitable infrastructure,
  • water scarcity,
  • high energy & operational costs,
  • sustainability
  • and safety.

Companies with advanced technology and services with solutions should consider Sub-Saharan Africa.

45% of the worlds arable unfarmed land

Food & agribusiness

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to vast arable land and well placed to further scale up agricultural production and trade with appropriate infrastructure, regulations and water management.

There are opportunities for companies offering solutions for

  • efficient use of water and other resources,
  • and sustainable growth of agricultural and food production.
123 Million growth in the middle class

Education & training

Sub-Saharan Africa’s increasing youth and increasingly wealthy population will increase demand for access to quality education. This will create major challenges domestically for school education and for VET and Higher Education,

There is a strong demand for Sub-Saharan African companies and governments to provide industry with a highly-trained workforce.

Sub-Saharan Africa is looking for innovative and efficient techniques to bridge the skills gaps to increase productivity levels, safety standards and the efficiency.

Relevant library resources Complete library

Sub Sahara Africa Market Overview

Sub Sahara Africa Market Overview

September 30, 2016

Export market overview and commissioner profile for Sub-Saharan Africa

View this resource

More market overviews

Commissioner’s intel: How to take your business to Sub-Saharan Africa

View the videos below, and hear from TIQ’s Trade and Investment Commissioner for Europe, Ken Smith, as he speaks of the opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Ken Smith: opportunities in mining & resources sector

Transcript

In areas like the mining, engineering and technical services area, you wouldn’t normally think of London because there is not a lot of mining that goes on, but what does go on is the major world miners are listed on the London Stock Exchange. So headquartered in London, are companies like Glencore, Rio, BHP Billiton – is jointly listed in Australia and London and so TIQ has close links with those major companies and can look at how we can be, and companies can be, part of their global supply chain.

Those companies operate in markets like Sub-Saharan Africa, very significant mining, oil and gas sectors and TIQ can provide those links into opportunities within the supply chain to grow the mining sector within those major areas of mining activity. That can range from activities associated with the increase in productivity in mines, reducing energy expenditure, providing contract mining opportunities, looking at beneficiation within the mining process, planning activities, engineering services; the full range, the full gamut of activities in that expertise that we have in mining and technology.

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Ken Smith: Tips for entering the Sub-Saharan Africa market

Transcript

I really wanted to be able to provide you with some tips about entering into the markets that I’m responsible for. The UK is a strongly growing economy. It’s second only to the US and was actually a stronger economy than the US in the G7 economies. As an established economy there are incredible links between the UK and Australia.

There are significant business links and it’s about building on those business links. It’s about building on what we can do to take forward that significant investment, that significant two way trade link that has been there for sometime and is still growing. Europe have a number of different markets, it’s emerging from the GFC quite strongly and economies like Spain and Ireland and obviously Germany can provide a base for what we can do to take our businesses to that market.

Overall, the European economies represent a market of 500 million people. They represent opportunities for us to take forward both trade activities but also inward investments and getting investments within our region. Then to Sub-Saharan Africa, we all know the risks associated with trade work in Sub-Saharan Africa, but within Sub-Saharan Africa there are very strong resource sector.

They have about a third of the world’s natural resources, oil and gas reserves, there are huge agricultural opportunities and obviously a huge population of 1 billion people and growing. The tips that I would give to people in moving into the market really are: make the connections with other businesses, make connections with us who can give you the links to other people within the market, understand the market and understand the competition, understand that this is overall an established market, particularly in the UK and much of Europe, but there are also opportunities in emerging markets – Central Europe and in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Ken Smith: opportunities in food & agribusiness sector

Transcript

Obviously Sub-Saharan Africa, with a population of almost a billion, with a huge youth population, with the largest amount of non-farmed, arable land on the planet, there will be opportunities for agriculture, agricultural economics, technology and building on some of the agricultural sector within that economy.

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