Why you should invest your money in Africa

Where ever there are challanges opportunities exist.

As an African decent, my ultimate dream obviously is to see the condition of Africans in Africa improves. I always dream that one day the countries of this land would unite. And together they’ll bring once again enlightenment to the world like the Black Egyptians in Africa once did. Africa, the land of all people, the second largest continent with nine hundred million people is composed of 54 different countries.

As an American, can you imagine United State of America being split into 52 separate countries, how unpractical would it be for us to trade? Conflict among states would have become an issue; war would have become inevitable just like we have seen with different nations in Africa. A united nation of Africa is the only solution. As long as Africa is divided between different countries, she will always be a prostitute for empires to pimp.

Africa is the richest continent in natural resources and yet most of her people are among the poorest in the world. How that came to be is an issue that most economist preferred not to elaborate on. Those that do either lied abut it or they simply won't tell or don’t know the truth. There is only a handful of economist who would tell you the truth about why Africans are poor but they're not famous. Anyhow those who knows the details would rather avoid talking about the issue.

However, some countries have been looking to built new factories or invest in local enterprise which is a good way to help Africa. The method that’s not helpful to African nations is when these countries are offered help in the form of charity. That money never got to be distributed or invested within the economy of the country for which it was offered. The best way to help Africa, is to invest in it infrastructure by building roads, schools and factories.

We live in a time where the world economy is connected and are accessible via the World Wide Web. Once our economy becomes fully connected, it will become laughable for us to even think of ourselves as separate government. We have already seen, how the recession can effects the world economy, what will happen next is a joint venture between some of the biggest corporations in the world. This is why some companies are now exploiting the opportunities that are currently available in Africa.

These companies understand that if they want to continue growing, they must expand their operation to the world poorest populations by formulating products that the poor market can afford. The ability to increase sales by expanding an organization’s activities or operations to a different region is the outcome of a growth strategy.This strategy can be manipulated to understand how to market products to populations where the income levels of the individuals are substantially lesser than most average countries.

This strategy will have to incorporate an intense integrated low-cost differentiation strategy so that it become effective. What I'm conveying to you here, is that corporations that choose to inverst in those poor areas in Africa must produce at a price that is advantageous to them so that they make a profit.

I presume, since the incomes of the population in some countries in Africa are that low, corporations might as well consider building their factories there. The purpose of doing that is to raise the income of the very population they want to sell their product to. They should do that by providing the Africans with jobs while subsequently developing a market for prosperity and growth to take flight. It is very much like the paradox, killing two birds with one stone. To fully understand Africa, one must have some comprehension of the opportunities that are currently open to investors. To consider these opportunities, one must also have some understanding of Africans in Africa.

Some people say that Africa is a dark country, has an AIDS epidemic, high poverty rate, etc. These are things that some people say about Africa. Unfortunately, those who are ignorant of Africa will not benefit from the opportunities that are currently available in it. George Campbell, the geographer once said “The only thing that is dark of Africa is our ignorance of it.” I now understand his reasoning, since most people seems to think of Africa as a country.

For one to say that there are no opportunities in Africa is to say that there is no opportunity in gamble. It’s true that there are challenges in Africa, but wherever there are challenges, opportunities exist. Investors can lose or make money in Africa just like any stock investment, the bottom line is that investing in Africa is a low risk invesment depending on how one looks at it.

In addition, for investors to invest in Africa, they must understand that corporations follow the law of a ruling government, but they are not controlled by them. They're there to protect the interest of the corporations and to protect the platform in which business is conducted. If people can begin to understand that, they would come to realize that the world is not truly being governed by countries, but instead by corporations. It is only then potential investors can understand why investing in Africa is a good investment. Until then some investors will continue to neglect the opportunity to develop markets in the countries of Africa.

A threat can also be described as when a company fails to take advantage on a currently available opportunity. A company that fails to act on an opportunity because they have miscalculated the future outcome of their investment, has left the door open for their competitors to initiate a threat. This is why any company who has invested in the opportunities that Africa has to offer will have established a customer base that will not be comparable to new arrival competitors. Since it’s not possible for companies to invest in all the opportunities that Africa has to offer, every opportunity they missed or leaves pending, they’re leaving themselves exposed to a potential threat.

On Wednesday, October 24, 2007 Goldman Sachs released a report that predicted that by the year 2020, Nigeria will be among the top ten world economies. The report also indicated that CNBC has Launched CNBC Africa, a 24 hrs news network. My first respond to this was why would they do that? They have implemented a growth strategy by moving part of their business to a different region. Then I realized why - they have done it because they have access to information that projects certain outcome that most of us regular folks just don’t have.

I believe the incentive for initiating this news network in Africa reveals that they expect investment to fallow. If you take a look at the report, you’ll notice that inflation has decreased from double digits to single in countries like Zambia, Egypt and Nigeria. Looking at this report, one can also noticed that there are other opportunities that are available for many companies in America to initiate an investment.

For example, Tanzania needs investors to help established standards for organic produce, that’s an opportunity. New roads need to be developing, that’s opportunity, and energy needs opportunity. 10% of Nigeria’s population has bank account, that’s opportunity, needs for automobiles equal opportunity. These opportunities that are currently available to companies all over the world; it is up to you the executive to decide whether you see opportunity or challenges.

What this report demonstrates is that a threat doesn’t necessarily have to occur in the present tense; sometime the most severe threat lies in the unpredicted future. Therefore, this is why it’s extremely important for companies to follow trends like return on investment, gross domestic product, public needs and population expansion. This way, companies will be able to envision where the next economic boom will take place, so that they can take appropriate measures to exploit every opportunity they get.

Although companies should pay attention to these future threats, the present threats are just as significant if not taken seriously. However, the current threat to some companies is the inability to quickly deploy their dynamic capabilities which are helpful for introducing new products to be sold in the market. This inability will then open new doors for new entrepreneurs to initiate a threat.

The ability for other entrepreneurs to enter the industry is always a threat to any company, regardless of its size. The last threat I will mentioned is the major stakeholders, which are the stockholders, their ability to redraw from their investment is a huge threat that all organization faced. Now, if you sorely think in terms of threat, you’ll never notice an opportunity. As a company, it’s always important to manage risk by weighing opportunities with weaknesses & threat. It is the only time; you’ll know whether or not an opportunity is advantageous.

Howell, Lafayette. “Procter & Gamble looks to poor markets for growth.”[Mongabay] Available http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0715-wsj.html, July 15, 2007

Kambo, Frederick. “Addicted to the hustle.” [Goldman Sachs] Availablehttp://freddkambo.blogspot.com/2007/10/invest-in-africa-get-rich-repeat.html, Oct 24, 2007

be advise the respond from the first anonymous at the above link is me.