For decades, Africa’s economic story has been framed around promise — promise of growth, promise of investment, promise of untapped potential. But that narrative is beginning to change.
In the latest episode of Insights from Africa, Bronwyn Seaborne, BDTV’s head of news, explores why Africa’s strategic importance in the global economy is growing, and whether the continent is ready to seize this opportunity.
The episode is split into two parts (watch the videos below).
In the first part, Seaborne is joined by Anne Aliker, head of Corporate and Investment Banking for Africa Regions at Standard Bank.
Their conversation examines the structural shifts reshaping the global economy, Africa’s growing leverage in critical minerals and supply chains, the importance of beneficiation and infrastructure investment, and why stronger intra-African trade will be key to ensuring the continent shapes its own growth story rather than remaining part of someone else’s agenda.
In part two, Seaborne talks to Mikhail Nikomarov, partner and associate director of Sustainable Energy at Boston Consulting Group, about why Africa’s opportunity lies not simply in extracting more of its natural resources, but in building globally competitive industries around them.
The discussion then turns to whether any one country can achieve this on its own. Does Africa’s next chapter depend on thinking beyond national borders and building regional markets that are large enough to compete globally? Trudi Hartzenberg, the executive director of the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa, shares her views with Seaborne.
Watch now:
This article was sponsored by Standard Bank.
