The African middle class presents a growing market for a myriad of goods and services as well as a pool of educated, potential employees. Africa is ripe for investment. This report by Deloitte an international respected, South African professional services and consultancy firm.
Deloitte on Africa – The Rise and Rise of the African Middle Class
Some excerpts and comments from this extensive report:
“This population boom captures, at once, the African opportunity …. The opportunity is that large population numbers create the very necessary volume for any consumer goods and services.”
Most African countries have the potential to become manufacturers and producers of these goods and services. Local and international, expat entrepreneurs presently have an excellent opportunity to bring their products to market. These are young, savvy and ambitious young, middle class people. They have a desire for fuller and productive lives. Most of all, they have disposable income, something never seen before, on this scale, on the African continent.
“At 313 million, the African middle class is roughly the same size as its Indian and Chinese counterparts and this is the very basis of media reports such as “Africa is the new Asia” – Newsweek cover in 2010 and the “The Hopeful Continent: Africa Rising” with the subtext: “After decades of slow growth, Africa has a real chance to follow in the footsteps of Asia (The Economist, 2011)”
Same size as Indian and Chinese middle classes!!! Just think of the consumption and production by the middle class in those countries. Very few people are aware of or understand this important fact.
“In a globalized world, Africa is not impervious to new trends and influences that are fast shaping consumer behaviors and consumption patterns. Africans are also aspirational. African consumers want the same as consumers elsewhere – a mobile phone, a bank account, and the latest Beyonce CD bought in a store at a shopping mall. And indeed, shopping malls are sprouting in the continent’s major capitals – Dakar, Lagos, Accra, Nairobi and Lusaka. In Deloitte’s interactions with various clients expanding on the continent, it is clear that there is a need for formal retail infrastructure.”
The African middle class is already purchasing foreign products. Products with similar or higher quality, produced on the continent with adaptations and modification to fit African sensibilities and needs, will find a market ready to gobble them up.
Africa Mentor has is a coaching and consultant agency to assist entrepreneurs and investors take advantage of the growing market in Africa.
