Why manufacturing is key to creating jobs and building diversified economies Can the continent make it? By Ronak Gopaldas Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana produce 53% of the world’s cocoa. But the supermarket shelves in Abidjan and Accra, their respective capitals, are stacked with chocolates imported from Switzerland and the UK, countries that do not farm cocoa. This scenario is repeated throughout the continent in different contexts. For example Nigeria, the world’s sixth-largest producer of crude oil, exports more than 80% of its oil but cannot refine enough for local consumption. In 2013 it spent about $6 billion subsidising…
Ronak Gopaldas
Ronak Gopaldas
RONAK GOPALDAS is a director at Signal Risk, an exclusively African risk advisory firm. He was previously the head of country risk at Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) for a number of years, where he managed a team who provided the firm with in-depth analysis of economic, political, security and operational dynamics across sub-Saharan Africa. He holds a BCom degree in philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) and a BCom (Hons) from the University of Cape Town (UCT). He also has an MSc in finance (economic policy) through the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London.[
SDGs and global growth Changing political and economic dynamics are set to make achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 a great deal more difficult By Ronak Gopaldas On the 25 September 2015, 193 countries adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the UN, which would come into force on 1 January, 2016. The goals, which seek to eradicate poverty, hunger and inequality, to achieve universal access to health care, clean water and sanitation, education and decent work, and fundamentally make the world a better place for all who inhabit it, were set to be achieved by 2030, representing an…
Governments vs business: the trust deficit By Ronak Gopaldas Africa is experiencing a surge in economic nationalism, with populist and anti-business rhetoric and sentiment on the rise in a number of countries. The two most obvious exhibits of this are the emergence of “Buharism” in Nigeria and “Magunomics” in Tanzania since 2015. In these countries, heavy-handed, often draconian approaches towards the private sector have been adopted for political purposes. High-profile foreign companies, blamed for exploitative business practices, have been on the receiving end of harsh and disproportionate fines and tax bills. Elsewhere, the governments of Zambia and the DRC are…
Africa’s industrialisation Why manufacturing is key to creating jobs and building diversified economies Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana produce 53% of the world’s cocoa. But the supermarket shelves in Abidjan and Accra, their respective capitals, are stacked with chocolates imported from Switzerland and the UK, countries that do not farm cocoa. This scenario is repeated throughout the continent in different contexts. For example Nigeria, the world’s sixth-largest producer of crude oil, exports more than 80% of its oil but cannot refine enough for local consumption. In 2013 it spent about $6 billion subsidising fuel imports, estimated Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala late…
As with football, Africa risks losing its best and brightest to more advanced and monied nations Football and politics have always enjoyed a fascinating relationship. During this year’s World Cup the political subtext was especially elevated, given the geo-political significance of the event being hosted in Russia. But beyond the obvious diplomatic undercurrent, the tournament brought a number of complex political issues to the fore. Polarising debates around talent, migration, identity and patriotism surfaced as a result of specific incidents that occurred during the course of the tournament. These incidents, although microcosmic in nature, were magnified on a global stage…
East Asia investing in Africa could prove the panacea to the regions’ parallel problems
Private higher education institutions are mushrooming around the continent, but are they effective?
Africa’s monetary unions Plans to launch a common currency in West Africa flounder With the structural failings of the European monetary union at the root of Europe’s economic malaise, the viability of a single monetary union in west Africa has come squarely under the microscope. Fifteen states in this African bulge formed a regional economic union in 1975 known as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to promote growth, stability and economic development. Languages and currency, however, divide the regional grouping. ECOWAS’s seven former French colonies use the CFA (for Communauté Financière Africaine) franc as their common currency.…
Africa’s brain gain by Ronak Gopaldas Femi Badeji left his native Nigeria nearly 20 years ago and moved to the United States. He earned an MBA at Wharton, one of the US’s top business schools, and then worked as an engineer and later as an investment banker on Wall Street. He recently returned home because he says the time is ripe to play a part in Africa’s growth story. “It took me around 17 years to make the move back to Nigeria but I had to position myself in such a way that I could help fix the continent while…
Corruption in Africa Government graft, often with the collaboration of private companies, is choking African economies Africa is a notoriously difficult place to do business. Many investors remain sceptical of their ability to navigate the continent’s often murky operational environments, where weak governance, regulatory failure and unstructured economies have created the conditions for corruption to thrive. The scale of graft has been particularly noteworthy in extractive industries. As a result, the citizens of many African countries rich in oil, gas and minerals are mired in poverty. Rather than investing resource revenues into infrastructure, health care and education, governments, often in…
