TRANSFORMATION

The New York Forum AFRICA 2014 will focus on transformation: unlocking the competitiveness of the African economy through building value chains around the transformation of the continent’s natural resources, including its human capital. In knowledge economies, such as those in the western world, education is the foundation of economic competitiveness and global prosperity – and is inseparable from the development of human capital. An assessment from the World Bank revealed that human capital contributes more than 60 per cent towards economic development, as compared to physical infrastructure (around 15 per cent) and natural resources (around 20 per cent).

Sustainable development in Africa will not be possible if new industries, opened up by the diversification of economies, are not populated by local workers: we must ensure that training and capacity building matches the real needs on the ground. With a solid education and good quality vocational training – tailored to the job market and to the local environment – will ensure that African men and women can transform their lives, their environments and their countries.

The key for Africa now is to increase the economic opportunities available, rather than merely dividing them. And by creating value-added processes in the supply chain, Africa can create jobs revenue. It is not enough to sell natural resources, when much of the profit is being made overseas by the conversion of those natural resources. The blossoming of information and communication technologies further adds to the huge potential for the transformation of African economies.

The business and political leaders that gather in Libreville in June 2014 will engage in intense, collaborative sessions to draw up a road map – for individual businesses as well as national policy-makers – as a guide and spur to action. The New York Forum AFRICA is organized around a number of major debates that examine the key economic and business issues for Africa today. This year’s key themes are:

Human Capital Land For Agriculture Connectivity Into Jobs Resources And Energy Investment Into Industry The African Brand Citizenship

Spotlight on Africa

TRANSFORMING THE CONTINENT’S HUMAN CAPITAL

Re-examining the education system
Woman: the untapped workforce
Vocational training and delivering graduates that meet the needs of the workplace
Live longer, stay stronger: how do we best address healthcare in the continent?

TRANSFORMING NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY

Natural resources (agricultural commodities, timber, metals, minerals and hydrocarbons) have accounted for roughly 35 per cent of Africa’s growth since 2000, but 80 per cent of Africa’s export products are resource-based raw or semi-processed goods (compared with 40 per cent in India and 14 per cent in China). Despite a strong comparative advantage in natural resources (with the high level of prices for these resources), Africa has kept its place in the global economy but has not leveraged this natural resource wealth into structural transformation that will enable the continent to create more value by transforming these resources, providing more jobs and more income for all.

How can Africa achieve growth that delivers more productive jobs?
How can the continent create value-added industries and diversification?
What role can governments play in leveraging these strong natural resources? What are the right conditions for transformation?
Is increased co-operation (pan-African and between public and private sector) the solution?

TRANSFORMING THE LAND FOR AGRICULTURE

The African vision for agriculture has been clearly laid out: dynamic markets within regions and countries, and farmers active in the market economy, while the continent becomes a net exporter of agricultural projects. Following from this would be a fairer distribution of wealth for rural populations, and environmentally sound agricultural production and sustainable land management. Is this an agricultural pipe dream – or is Africa close to achieving this? Are government, the private sector and the farmers delivering – and are they accountable?

How do we build value-added sectors to keep more revenues at home?
How do we integrate and support small farmers?
What can be done to protect from price hikes, and against environmental disasters?
How do we increase capacity and storage of water?
What needs to be done to improve access to market (financial and infrastructure/transport)?
Can we ensure food security?

TRANSFORMING INVESTMENT INTO INDUSTRY

How can we ensure that investment opportunities (at home or from FDI) are closely aligned with job creation and diversification strategies? How can we deliver lasting value to the population and infrastructure as well as profits to the investors?

How can we focus and incentivise investment and partnerships in sectors that have high potential for job creation and human capital development, like tourism?
How can we harness the involvement of the private sector to bring about operating efficiencies and better results?
How do we promote investment in SMEs and entrepreneurs (riskier but with higher potential reward to a country’s population) and remove barriers to private sector investment?

TRANSFORMING CONNECTIVITY INTO DIGITAL INNOVATION AND JOBS

Over the past few years, fiber-optic networks have sprung up over Africa, connecting the continent, slashing the cost of online access, and kickstarted new markets in IT, content, software, mobile phones, social media and apps. Africa’s Generation Y is using ICT to create opportunities and build businesses. But this is just the beginning: Africa is the second-biggest mobile market in the world, and smartphones sales are 400 per cent bigger than computer sales (estimates state there will be a billion mobile phones in Africa by 2016). And six of the 10 fastest-economies are in sub-Saharan Africa. How can we combine these two elements to use spiralling mobile use and online access to generate more innovation and a thriving, profitable, digital industry?

IT and communications can create new opportunities for income and jobs. How much effort and resource allocation should we place here?
And should IT and connectivity be the number 1 issue, above all else?
How do we create local centres of excellence based around technology?

TRANSFORMING THE AFRICAN BRAND

The value of a well-defined, trusted brand is unquestioned: supporters of a Brand Africa state that it will unlock sustainable growth, improve reputation, and increase competitiveness for the continent.

52 countries, but how much benefit would they get from the creation of one brand, a brand Africa?
Would it be better to focus on branding regional associations, like CEMAC?
Made in Africa: would this label add value?
Or, is Africa simply too diverse to be labelled as one – and is a “forced homogeneity” exacerbating the problem?

What does tomorrow’s African citizen care about?
And what does the African city of tomorrow look like?
Today’s citizen is younger and more active than ever before – but not necessarily through traditional models of engagement. How can we channel this activism in a positive way?
And in countries without democratic elections, how does the population become heard?