Are African Investments Viable Or Not

By Jeremy Carden

Foreign aid and African investments have been rolling into the African continent more so than any other part of the globe amounting to around three billion American dollars. Of all the continents Africa has always been the poorest and over the last few decades has been notable deteriorating and as opposed the world. 's entire production Africa only produces two percent.

Around twenty or more thousand professional people immigrate to other countries recently more so noted in South Africa. The African continent is bankrupt despite the billions of dollars that have already been invested and the reason for this is owing to the large debts as well as government departments being corrupt.

There are really only three viable sectors of interest which potential investors can invest in such as infrastructure, agriculture and telecommunications according to the world economists. An area which has been severely neglected especially within the last two years is the processing of agriculture and agro which has been noted to be a ripe area for investment as agricultural produce only represents around five percent of the world. 's value on the export markets.

There are many insights and opportunities for investors in this saturated but under developed market especially within sub Saharan Africa such as the 3G licence boom and mobile penetration in the north of Africa and included South Africa that only has three mobile and a single telecommunication service running.

Morocco launched the first IPTV service in Africa and there is much scepticism as to how the expansion of WIMAX will impact the high service convergence characteristic of other African country. 's telecom sector. The telecom sector has barely been touched in Sudan and the overseas sectors are already pouring in huge sums although most analysts consider this sector to be under explored as there are growth prospects despite political uncertainty and decline in oil prices.

The infrastructure situation in Africa must also be viewed as an opportunity for African investments rather than a limitation. There are around three hundred million Africans that do not have reliable supplies of clean drinking water and millions more that don. 't have access to proper sanitation. Only four percent of Africa. 's water supply is used for the purpose of agricultural development as well as hydro electrical power, residential and industrial consumption.

Statistics have revealed that in modern times there are still around forty percent or more Africans that are totally illiterate and that the African continent alone accounts for a staggering 70% of HIV infected people causing the populations life expectancy to decrease rapidly and it has also been noted that Africa is at the very bottom of the list when it comes to human development and this was stated by the UNDP recently.

There are opportunities as well as returns from african investment as long as investors are willing to face risks as Africa is the last real frontier in emerging markets unlike other markets that are already crowded with private investors whereby Africa does not have that level of competition and some countries have already realized that Africa is on the radar and have identified the potential in Africa. The most attractive African investments are consumer goods and services, banking and domestic infrastructure as well as telecommunications. - 23226

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