Africa

With a population of slightly over 2.5 million people, Namibia is one of Africa’s least populous countries. But that hasn’t limited the country’s ambition. Since gaining its independence 32 years ago, the country has managed to make a successful transition to democracy, dramatically improve the living standard of its citizens, and to diversify and internationalize its trade so that its top five trading partners include the likes of Switzerland, Italy, and China.

On this last point, one organisation can take much of the credit.

The 21st century has been a time of growing prosperity for Ghana and its citizens. Although the country’s GDP remained largely stagnant for the 50 years to the beginning of the century - growing just 13% between 1955 and 2000 - its growth since then has been phenomenal. In 2021, the country’s GDP was measured at over $72 billion - nearly 15 times higher than in 2000, when the same figure stood at a little less than $5 billion.

Perhaps more than any change currently underway in Africa, the continent’s ongoing massive investments in developing the infrastructure's economic enablers point to a highly prosperous and brighter future. The pace of progress is furious.

If the 21st century does turn out to be the African century as many have claimed, agriculture will have a central part to play in the story. The importance of the sector has been underlined over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic when output and prices have continued to grow. In South Africa, where diversified agricultural firm/agribusiness Senwes is based, agriculture was the only sector of the country’s economy which grew over the past two years.

It has been a decade since Business Excellence first profiled Perseus Mining’s operations in Ghana. At that time, its first mine, the Edikan gold mine, was just about to begin commercial production. In the intervening period, the mine has produced over 2 million ounces of gold and based on current ore reserves, it is expected to recover a further 1.3 million ounces of gold over its remaining life, estimated to be nearly six years.

Despite a national history of international wayfaring, strong domestic infrastructure, and several world class companies spread across multiple industries, Portugal’s companies have been relatively slow to globalize, when compared to companies from other European countries. Thanks to the example set by a small cohort of companies, the renowned construction company Mota Engil among them, that may all be about to change.

Mining and South Africa go hand in hand. The country owes much of its development to its rich natural resources. And although mining’s contribution to national GDP is now a fraction of what it once was, it is still the eighth largest mining country in the world when production values are taken into consideration. Much of this production is in zinc, the output of the subject of this article, Gamsberg Mine, now the centerpiece of the world’s largest zinc mining and processing complex.

Botswana has justifiably won praise over the past two decades as home to one of the world’s longest-running economic booms. Although the Covid-19 pandemic curtailed that growth for a short period, the government’s 2021 accounts are set to show a strong rebound, with GDP growth of approximately 7% being forecast.

Botswana Oil, the state energy company, has played a pivotal role in this growth story.

It is now eight years since Business Excellence covered First Quantum Mines for the first time. The company had just been awarded one of almost 30 mining licenses granted by the Zambian government. Global copper prices were on a downward trend that wouldn’t bottom out until late 2015. After a $1.1 billion investment, most investors would be forgiven for feeling anxious.

Botswana is home to one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Despite being a landlocked country with a miniscule population of a little over 2 million people, Botswana is an undoubted Sub-Saharan success story. Academics argue about the reasons for this success, but two reasons are mentioned again and again. The first is good institutions. The second, has been the country’s ability to exploit and market its outstanding mining resources.