Editorial
Subverting the traditional perception of Africa, leveraging the lever of the pattern?
Seetao 2025-06-05 19:34
  • Chinese-made goods are considered by most Africans to be a sign of good value for money
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In the last 50 years, China has undoubtedly been the world's greatest land of opportunity, and the reform and opening up has promoted the take-off of the domestic economy and turned the lives of its people upside down. Most of the global investors who invested in China in the early days also succeeded in reaping strong returns. Where's the next place of opportunity? Many scholars and investors have invariably set their sights on Africa. As the world's last billion-person market, Africa is reshaping the global economic map with its unique endowment advantages and transformative momentum. However, its development potential and challenges coexist, what is the real Africa? Let's take a look.

My impression of the African continent in the past was limited to the perception of countries on the periphery of Africa, such as Egypt and Morocco. What is the current state of Africa's core region? This time, I took advantage of the May Day holiday to go directly to the core of Africa and visited Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and other three countries. The perception of Africa in the minds of Chinese people is often associated with negative words such as poverty, war, and backwardness. So much so that when I was preparing for this trip to Central and East Africa, I brought a week's worth of "dry food" because I was worried about the water and soil, and my family repeatedly told me to pay attention to safety when I said goodbye.

In fact, the author's worries before departure proved to be too much, and after visiting several countries all the way, he did not have to adapt to the water and soil, and the "dry food" he carried was not needed. I also found that what I actually saw and heard did subvert many Chinese people's perception of Africa in the past:

Many people have the impression that Africa has a hot and arid climate, which is not suitable for economic development, but this is not the case. One of the impressions that people are hot in Africa may come from the Sahara Desert, or they may come from the misconception that black people have tanned skin. In fact, the core area of Africa is south of the Sahara Desert, where the climate is mostly savannah and tropical rainforest, which is no different from the climate of the Amazon River basin in Southeast Asia or South America, which is not only suitable for the reproduction of various animals and plants, but also suitable for human survival, and is also very rich in natural resources, and the natural endowment conditions required for economic development are superior.

The current temperature in the three countries visited is between 15 and 25 degrees Celsius, and it is very comfortable both during the day and at night. Check the data, the perennial temperature in these areas are at this level, only the dry season and the rainy season, May coincides with the rainy season, that is, one or two heavy rains a day, in addition to washing the environment clean, is to moisturize the growth of plants, even normal travel is not affected, not to mention affect economic productivity.

This statement is not comprehensive, my trip this time is from Shanghai directly by Ethiopian Airlines flight to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, a landing to see almost all of the brand-new large aircraft, the Boeing series is basically 777, 787, Airbus series are A350, check the information, Ethiopian Airlines and the domestic Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines three major airlines, the fleet of aircraft update, the number of large aircraft is more, the international route coverage is wider...... The terminal building of Bole International Airport in Ethiopia was built with the help of China and has very good hardware. As the busiest hub in East Africa, with an annual passenger throughput of more than 22 million passengers, equipped with Chinese services and digital facilities, it has become the core node of the China-Africa Air Corridor. However, allow me to complain by the way, there is a relatively large room for improvement in operation management, although the airport is full of Chinese signs, but as one of the most important aviation centers in Africa, the transit process is chaotic and the turnover efficiency is not high. Transit passengers are often in a hurry, confused, and exhausted.

In terms of municipal construction, Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, has built a number of viaducts, bridges and light rail lines, while Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, has focused on the construction of BRT bus lines, which has basically solved the problem of traffic congestion in the metropolis. Rwanda's infrastructure situation is that China's road network covers 70% of the country's mileage, and although it is a typical mountainous country, the roads are well connected and in good condition, and the main road network is expanding rapidly.

Data from the World Bank is even more telling: Ethiopia's road network has expanded from 26,500 km in 1997 to 169,000 km in 2023, and road density has increased from 24.1 km/1,000 km² to 148.3 km/1,000 km². As the first two-way six-lane expressway in East Africa, the Addis Ababa-Adama Expressway, built with China's assistance, has shortened the travel time between the capital and Adama from 2.5 hours to 45 minutes, greatly improving logistics efficiency. Tanzania has formed a national transportation backbone network through 12 highways built by Chinese enterprises, with a total length of more than 160,000 kilometers.

Overall, I think the infrastructure in these three countries has reached or exceeded the domestic level around the year 2000. I remember that year (1980-1990s) before the full take-off of domestic economic construction, from Guangzhou to Shenzhen or Zhuhai 100 kilometers of road, the car often had to bump a day, during which the ferry crossed the river several times, foreign investors came to invest and inspect a trip and jokingly called it "one to three supplements": to make up the waist bone, to make up the spirit, to make up the tires. The investment hardware environment in Africa is much stronger now.

While Africa is the next place of opportunity, it is not a "golden place", but a dynamic balance of endowment and strategic choice. Although debt, inflation and geopolitical risks still need to be vigilant, they are still worth further exploring and grasping from the perspective of international investors.(This article is from the official website of Seetao www.seetao.com. Reprinting without permission is strictly prohibited. Please indicate Seetao.com + original link when reprinting) Seetao.com Strategy Column Editor/Sun Fengjuan

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