The Bright Continent

The FT has a brief on ten boomtowns in Africa:

The ‘Big 5′ - cities which are broadly politically and economically-stable, and already major FDI destinations. They are:

- Accra, Ghana

- Johannesburg, South Africa

- Lagos, Nigeria

- Luanda, Angola

- Nairobi, Kenya

No major surprises here. Johannesburg is the biggest city in sub-Saharan Africa’s leading economy, and, as Frontier notes, is reaching the size of a large European city. Its nominal ‘GDP’ output is $51bn; Munich, in Germany, has a GDP of $64bn. Lagos has a smaller economy, at $40bn – but that is expected to jump when Nigeria rebases its economic statistics this year. By 2015, Frontier says, “risk-weighted business opportunities in Lagos will far outpace that of the city’s nearest competitor” (Johannesburg).

It’s the ‘Next 5′ – large cities with rapidly expanding economies, but serious business climate deficiencies – that offer some of the biggest potential rewards – provided multinationals can stomach the risks. They are:

- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

- Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

- Ibadan, Nigeria

- Kinshasa, Congo-DRC

- Mombasa, Kenya

I’ve been to all these cities, save Luanda and Kinshasa*. I’m heartened to see Ibadan—where my parents went to college, and where they have a house—on the list. Africa’s second cities (like Mombasa, for example) are still among some of the fastest growing in the world. Any global businessperson would be delighted to have the young human capital,  intense entrepreneurialism and increasing spending power present in these cities and the mainstage metropolises. So get on it—I daresay in ten years you’ll be too late.  

*soon!