View Africa through different lens to spur economic growth

Opinion and Analysis

Copper mining in Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Top global firms’ focus should be less on making and moving massive profits out of Africa and more on re-investing. PHOTO | AFP 

By CAROLINE MUGO

In Summary

• Biggest misunderstanding about the continent is that because it has been labelled an emerging market, it is to be treated as just that.

The CNN reporter’s attempt to discredit Kenya by terming it a “hotbed of terror” at the height of US President Barack Obama’s historic visit to the country – though surprising to many locals filled with excitement over the “homecoming of their son” – was not uncharacteristic of the Western media’s view of Africa.

The damaging label came at the exact time the entire world was watching Kenya, dealing a big blow to the country’s image.

Africa has been misrepresented using every manner of negative labels: corrupt, poor, insecure, hungry, conflict-ridden, diseased, illiterate, unskilled and poorly governed.

Ironic, though, is the fact that the same continent is home to six among the globe’s fastest growing economies.

Indeed, it cannot be denied that African nations are grappling with serious challenges. The fact is, however, that every country and region in the world is grappling with its own set of problems.

One by one, beginning with the not quite ended recession in the US, the continuing debt crisis in the Eurozone, the recent plummeting of Chinese markets, the on-going decline in Brazil’s economy, the major currency devaluations and drop in equity prices all around the world; all are pressing problems.

Still, Africa continues to receive a disproportionate amount of negative focus from the rest of the world for its problems in comparison to the focus it deserves for the pivotal role it has so relentlessly played in the global economy.

Such focus is triggered by misrepresentation from international media and other influencers of opinions.

It is these preconceived notions that have been so loosely applied alongside the definition of Africa as a whole that are behind the continents slow rate of contribution to the world economy.

It is an indisputable certainty that in the global economic equation, Africa collectively is where the promise of global prosperity lies. And it all begins with a changing mindset.

The rest of the world needs to view Africa through a different lens from what it is used to, if Africa is to deliver upon its promise of catalysing global economic prosperity.

Even when these notions and labels are not expressly negative or derogatory, there are outdated and misrepresent the way in which Africa really fits into the global economic system.

For instance, Africa has long been referred to as the final/last frontier. To the undiscerning investors, this can very well be misunderstood to mean that Africa is an investment destination of last resort, when all else is said and done.

This is a view that would need to shift radically. It is time to buy into Africa as the place new investments should head first and not the last. A change in such a view can dramatically impact the amount of investment that is destined for Africa.

Another long perpetrated but equally misleading view is that Africa is the source of raw materials that will then feed into a more sophisticated supply chain in a more ideal processing location.