Thursday, May 02, 2013
Dubai: “Tweeter leaders” are leading the changes in Africa’s socio-economic landscape that is helping bridge the gap between perception and reality in the Dark Continent, officials at a panel discussions at the Africa Global Business Conference, said.
“Today, we have tweeter presidents and tweeter prime ministers who use technology to assess situations and make real time decisions based on the ground reality,” Charles Mbire, Chairman of MTN Uganda, said. “This is why today parts of Africa is moving very fast. When we launched MTN in Uganda, we were given a projection of 15,000 subscribers in the first year. When we opened subscription, it exceeded 7,000 on the first day. So, when it comes to Africa, there is a big difference in perception and reality.”
He said, today mobile-based payment is dominating the banking services in Uganda. “Today, the number of mobile phone-enabled bank accounts is more than all the bank accounts opened by the Ugandan banking system over the last 15 years,” he said.
They said, Africa, long being neglected and left to suffer, is the next best thing that is happening to the global economy. Long labelled as the Dark Continent, it has come out of its past and has already begun to shine — so much so, that the investors from the emerging markets, especially China, have already begun to invest. With the European financial crisis, the continent is currently looking at the Middle East markets for connectivity and investment.
“Africa needs to learn from the UAE experience of the public sector working in partnership with the private sector for a common goal of growing business,” Amama Mbabazi, Prime Minister of Uganda, said.
Echoing the same, Jean Louis Ekra, President of African Export-Import Bank, said, “We need to emulate the example of Dubai — invest in infrastructure, then investment will come automatically.
“The financial crisis in Europe has reduced Africa’s traditional economic ties with Europe and has opened new doors to the Middle East, facilitated by airlines such as Emirates and Turkish Airline.”
Global GDP
Africa’s contribution to the global GDP has been constant at 4 per cent. “However, it will jump to 12 per cent within the next 15 years,” Zemedeneh Negatu, Managing Partner of Ernst and Young in Ethiopia. “It’s time for Africa,” he stressed.
African leaders are coming to terms with ground realities and are taking concrete steps to resolve infrastructure bottlenecks.
Patricia Francis, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre, said, “Africa’s leadership is taking concrete steps to develop infrastructure, services sector, logistics and agriculture that will take the continent to the next level,” she said.
Justin Chinayanta, Founder and Chairman of South Africa’s Loita Group, sums up Africa’s problems in one word — MEAT, which stands for Mining, Energy, Agriculture, Transport and Telecommunications. “These are crucial sectors for Africa’s future success,” he said.
“When Rwanda issued a $400 million (Dh1.5 billion) sovereign bond recently, it was eight times oversubscribed — with the total oversubscription value exceeding half of Rwanda’s gross domestic product.”
By Saifur Rahman Associate Editor
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
