Appetite among UK investors to buy into Africa
Bolaji Sofoluwe is the managing director of the ETK Group – the leading consultancy in the UK with people working actively in Africa to broker import and export deals. She boasts 16 years’ expertise and experience in Africa and the UK and has a proven track record of creating a bridge between the two for businesses of all sizes.
Here are her comments post Brexit:
“Now we have officially left the European Union, we need to understand that change is going to be a process.
“We have the rest of year to come up with a trade deal with the EU to avoid reverting to WTO rules and continuity of trade conditions for many other countries remains for 2020 too.
“In theory, after that anything is possible.
“The UK’s international development secretary Alok Sharma, claims Britain’s relations with Africa in particular will be “turbo-charged” from 2021 onwards – and I tend to agree with him.
“Firstly, the year ahead presents an opportunity for the UK and Africa to negotiate more favourable trading terms for both their economies.
“And secondly, there is significant appetite among UK investors to buy into Africa.
“There are a number of reasons for this. Although it is often portrayed as little more than a net exporter of raw materials, Africa has a lot more to offer besides its wealth of natural resources.
“It boasts six of the 15 fastest growing economies in the world, has one of the fastest growing youth populations with more than 400 million people aged 15–35 and there has been huge amount of growth predicted across the continent in sectors including agriculture, renewables, finance and technology.
“My company has helped a number of UK businesses broker successful ventures in Africa and cemented both importing and exporting relationships.
“Their businesses are flourishing as a result and we expect to see more companies following suit now that Brexit has taken place.
“After all, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement will come into effect in July 2020, creating an opportunity for the UK to negotiate with the African Union (AU) as a single trading bloc.
“And this will boost the potential in redefining, reinvigorating and rebranding the UK-Africa relationship.
“It is my belief that the UK could utilise ties as a major investor in Africa and a significant importer of African goods but also create exporting channels for the UK into countries where there is virgin territory for development.
“UK businesses should use Brexit as an opportunity to develop all these prospects.”
