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INDUSTRY

Industrialising Africa: The Options

Similarly, in 2015, Jeremy Rifkin in his keynote address at the Africa CEO
Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, envisioned a new term vision of Digital
Africa. He propounded that “While much of Africa is still without electricity,
that liability is also a potential asset because countries lacking mature
Second Industrial Revolution communication, energy, transportation and
logistics infrastructures can jump onto the next industrial revolution faster
and with less cost than many developed economies that will have to
transform an older and more mature infrastructure into the digital era.”
These assertions are plausible and indeed doable, but Africa is yet to make
significant and sustainable progress in the primary pillars of development
and this makes the task tricky. The continent is not tech-ready and will
require a concerted effort in the design of an integrated policy for the
remediation of these deficiencies.

While it is true that infrastructures that supported the older development
will need to be dismantled and new ones built, the impact and runoffs of
these earlier revolutions on the first world can neither be taken for granted
nor wished away. Africa must therefore mobilise in earnest to join the
next industrial revolution by readying herself to do so and focusing on the
essentials enunciated by an integrated economic roadmap.

The Way to Go
Industrial development policies for Africa should take into cognisance,
the content and impact of the first and second industrial revolutions and
attempt to understand the third industrial revolution which has become
the precursor to the fourth. The focus, therefore, should be to leverage
on existing knowledge of the third industrial revolution without going into
investment of the humongous grid and infrastructures that supported the
erstwhile phases.
Africa can join the race by deriving from the principles of the lean concept
which deemphasizes investments and ownership of huge and costly
infrastructure but focuses on use and the aggregation of small capacities
into communal ownership and common platforms. The Internet of Things
which is described as “the network of physical objects—devices, vehicles,
buildings and other items—embedded with electronics, software, sensors,
and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and
exchange data” shall be the vehicle that can do it for Africa.
The knowledge is readily available with minimum investments in research
or proprietary expenditures. With the assimilation of the basic lean start-up
concept, Africa’s young generation can lead this race. Instead of renting
office space, share. Instead of building a production warehouse, rent.
Instead of purchasing vehicles, hire. Instead of employing staff, share
knowledge and share profit.
The Benefits
With coordinated economic and industrial development policies, blueprint
and roadmaps, Africa will create consciousness and commence value
addition by way of local production and development of a huge resource
pool for the continent. This will be accomplished while engaging the over
one billion labour force to produce goods and services that are usable in
the region for sustainable and vibrant trade.
With full knowledge of set goals and objectives within a planned timeframe,
participating countries and regions shall be expected to share information
on accomplishments and gaps in demand and supply data. This will cut
down on loss of efforts, financial and material resources. In all these,
education is important in requisite knowledge areas and so is training in
areas that are relevant to the new direction. This will ensure increased
value-addition consciousness, know-how for African markets and exports,
employment creation and the general development of African resources
using African skills.
This new direction will also lead to higher productivity index, promotion
of relevant technology for Africa by Africans, and improved regional
integration on technological products and services. This is the Africa that
we want but we must be ready to build it.

53 The Africa We Want