Schulze Global believes that Africa presents attractive opportunities for foreign investment due to:

• increasing GDP growth;
• improving investment environment from recent structural and economic reforms; and
• continuing potential to take advantage of market and asset-level inefficiencies.

A Continent on the Move

According to the IMF, Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world, nearly on par with China and India. 64 percent of sub-Saharan Africa lives in countries where growth over that past decade is well over 6 percent.

Growth is diverse, driven by a mix of domestic and export-oriented industries. Africa also has favorable demographic growth potential due to its rapidly expanding middle class.

Growth in Africa is attributable to an explosion in natural resources and commodity exports, as well as a decade of economic reform programs that include privatizations, profound adjustments to macroeconomic regimes, and open trade and investment policies. The boom in FDI observed over the last decade has strengthened this momentum, and persists as global investors continue to identify robust, high-return opportunities across the continent.


East Africa Region

In the three years prior to the recent global recession, East Africa achieved an average annual GDP growth of 8.2%, the highest on the continent. In 2009, the region proved to be the most resilient as well, expanding by 5.75%.

According to the African Economic Outlook 2010, East Africa is again projected to achieve the highest average growth in 2010/11, above 6%. North and West Africa combined are only expected to grow at an estimated 5% and Central Africa at 4% during the same period. Among individual countries, Ethiopia is again poised to lead the African growth league, followed by Angola, Ghana, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.