Africa as the Last Frontier: Why it Matters for the Global Economy

1.What is Africa as ‘Last Frontier’?

(a)The phrase could be interpreted from the perspective of the expansion of the world economy to new poles of global economic growth and transformation such as the BRICS countries and the Asian Tigers.

(b)It could also mean Africa as a virgin new territory for conquest by the unflinching advance of globalization and global capital, operating mainly through international trade and foreign direct investment.

2.Why Africa Matters to the World Economy

(a)It could matter as a source of extraction of raw materials and natural resources but not as a contributor to global prosperity through its own economic transformation. This is “negative mattering.” It continues a trajectory that has remained fundamentally the same since the transatlantic slave trade and the period of colonial rule. This kind of mattering – extractive importance – is the current phase of the economies of most African countries. We should also note that, in this context, growth could be taking place but no structural transformation, which is what creates real prosperity, is happening. Even this source of importance may be in decline with the discovery of fracking and shale oil and gas.

(b)But Africa should matter as a growth pole in its own right, like Asia increasingly does. For this to happen, however, I argue that a paradigm shift must take place because the current paradigm, based on unrestrained free markets without a conceptual grasp of the opportunities,  limitations  and kinds of capitalism, and the structure of world trade, cannot create an enabling environment for Africa to matter in the world economy. With 3% of world trade and 5% of total global FDI, the continent still plays a negligible role in the global economy.

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Project Inspire 2013 Grant for Empowerment of Women

Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World is a joint initiative by the Singapore Committee for UN Women and MasterCard to provide grants for creating a better world of opportunities for women and girls in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.

Launched in 2011 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day and the 25th anniversary of MasterCard in Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa, Project Inspire presents 18-35 year olds with a 5-minute platform to pitch their inspired idea to the world and win a US $25,000 grant.

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International trade in the internet era

34 percent of the world population (irrespective of location, race, age and gender) are internet users. Internet has transformed the way we do business both domestically and internationally.

Days of you carrying a luggage full of brochures at tradeshows, waiting in the darkness for the safe arrival of shipping vessels and spending $200 on faxes and $120 on courier for export documents a day, are gone.

Instead, having a teleconference on Skype with suppliers in a remote area while locating your shipping vessel on MarineTraffic and checking Alipay for incoming payment is becoming normality for more and more international traders today.

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At the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland

In May 2010, following strong recommendation and advise by international trade law expert – Dr. Cornelia Navari formerly of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, (Chatham House, London), Ernest attended a capacity building training at the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.

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