FT SERIES
Emerging Africa
Resources
As the continent prepares to host the World Cup for the first time, the FT examines whether Africa is finally turning the corner economically
Part Four
Road to integration proves grindingly slow
Development prospects – Progress is uneven, but momentum is gathering as business people scent opportunity in Africa
Rain key to Kenyan boom town’s economy
Kenya: In a country rated among the most unequal in the world in terms of income, Naivasha is one of the fastest growing towns, a magnet for young Kenyans desperate for work. The engine of the town’s economy is horticulture
Wealth and power converge in Abuja Hilton
Inequality: The Nigerian capital epitomises the gulf between the haves and the have-nots which is all the starker in a part of the world where many of the have-nots have nothing
Related content and features
Part Three
Attitudes change to business in region
Mobile telephony - this has been one of the biggest African entrepreneurial success stories, and the sector’s growth has encouraged other investment. But the market is becoming overcrowded, say observers
Banks find potential in mobile phone growth
South Africa: As the spending power of low-income groups increases, more and more banks are competing for the business of the 15m adults who had previously been excluded from the financial system
China imports satisfy middle class aspirations
Electronics trade: When 13 traders from eastern Nigeria arrived at the allotted spot for their new market outside Lagos in 1977, the vista was not promising
Leading players emerge in key sectors
Companies make their mark: progress is seen in telecoms, resources and banking
Interactive
How well is Africa governed?
See how the governance scores of African nations have changed since 2000, based on the Ibrahim Index
Developing aid in Africa
Examine the influence of foreign aid on the continent and the relative success of the recipient countries over the last 30 years
Part Two
Mood upbeat in search for coal
The new Great Game: The town of Tete sits directly above one of the world’s largest reserves of high-quality coal, and investment is pouring in, driven by the industrial growth of China and India
East outmanoeuvres west
Trade wars: The race for raw materials as world economic power moves eastwards is behind the new version of the Great Game being played out in Africa’s mines and on its sea routes
Rwandan president carves out innovative role
Interview: Some see Paul Kagame as a visionary, others as a tyrant. But when he says that Africans are tired of being pawns on the global chessboard, he speaks for much of the continent
Comment: China’s shakes up old order
Diplomacy: China’s engagement with Africa has had a transformative effect on the continent’s relations with the outside world
Part One
Africa’s frontier market ready to score
The changing economic landscape: A steady flow of multibillion-dollar investments, reviving terms of trade and growing interest in regional markets suggest another opportunity is knocking at the continent’s door
Mozambique typifies aid dilemma
Foreign donations: Aid represented more than 20 per cent of the country’s gross national income in 2008. Yet it has also been something of a model reformer
Niger coup undermines union’s tough stance
Military takeovers: It took half an hour for junior officers to seize control of Niger on February 18. But the coup has underscored the difficulty of enforcing the African Union’s tough new stance against coup-makers
Oil riches to test trail-blazer Ghana
Resources: The country that blazed the trail of African independence in 1957, fell among the first into ruin, and emerged ahead of the pack as a budding democracy and frontier market, is about to face another test
