Agriculture Powering Africa's Economic Transformation

The Accra-based African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) posted on 10 October 2017 a massive study titled "Africa Transformation Report 2017: Agriculture Powering Africa's Economic Transformation." The lead author was Yaw Ansu, chief economist at ACET. You can download the entire report or an overview in English and French.

The premise of the study is that Africa is blessed with many natural advantages and rising market opportunities that could be leveraged for agricultural transformation. It also grapples with the current focus in Africa on industrialization by arguing that African countries have the opportunity to pursue two tracks to industrialization--one that leverages their relative labor-abundance for labor-intensive and export-oriented light manufacturing, and another track that leverages their advantages in agriculture for globally competitive manufacturing based on agriculture.

Will Shoes Made by Chinese Company in Nigeria Stifle Locally Made Shoes?

This is Africa published on 26 September 2017 an article titled "Nigeria Local Shoe Industries Attract Chinese Investors" by Patrick Egwu.

China's Hujian Group is establishing large-scale mechanized shoe production in Nigeria. The existing shoemakers in Nigeria fear Hujian's larger scale and greater mechanization will threaten local entrepreneurs and existing jobs.