After China and India, Africa is being seen as the next emerging billion-person powerhouse. Investors are scrambling to put their money into Africa, lured not just by the mineral wealth and uncultivated arable land, but by an astonishingly young population. Nearly two-thirds of the people living there are under the age of 24. Increasingly educated and has money to spend on consumer products. There are already more mobile phone subscribers in Africa than in Canada and the US combined.
The Economist revealed last month that six of the 10 most rapidly expanding economies over the past decade were in sub-Saharan Africa. Heading the list was Angola, transformed by the oil boom from a wartorn wreck into the world's fastest-growing nation. The others were Ethiopia, Nigeria, Chad, Mozambique and Rwanda. And it is not just down to the commodity boom – retailing, manufacturing and telecommunications also played their part, along with tourism.
By the end of this decade, there are expected to be at least 17 cities, among them Dakar in Senegal, Rabat in Morocco and Kano in Nigeria, with consumer markets worth more than $10bn each. Looking further ahead, the Standard Chartered bank predicts that Africa´s economy will grow at an average annual rate of 7% over the next two decades – faster even than China's. This is a phenomenal turnaround.
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