AFRICA’S INDUSTRIALIZATION PATHWAY

Introduction

Africa for the last three industrial revolutions has been a major loser, and as result has trailed behind the rest of the world in the quest for prosperity.

The fourth industrial revolution, or industry 4.0 as otherwise known, is already underway and according to Klaus Schwap, the executive chairman of the world economic forum, it is going to have both positive and negative global industrial implications depending on whether countries acknowledge it and push toward getting the requirements to thrive in it, or not. Manufacturing and production are going to be revolutionized as advanced digitized technologies are the technologies of the era of industry 4.0. According to Schwaps, it “conceptualizes rapid change in technology, industries, and societal patterns and processes.” It is going to be a chance by such a concept therefore, if Africa positions herself strategically, to gain out of it and skip some industrialization stages that brought about gross environmental pollution and necessitated in the past abuse of human rights through over working of laborers under unbearable conditions, slavery and colonialism. The era of industry 4.0 also allows Africa to be able to prioritize strategies that are both sustainable and relevant in order to maximize her opportunities and create growth that will not be disrupted by exponentially growing technology trends, but will rather utilize such technological advancements.

This article will highlight Africa’s major problems in her industrial pathway and will lay out specific priorities Africa must have and pursue to successfully create sustainable and relevant industrial growth from which the targets of Agenda 63 will be hit. It will also state out specific roles African leaders must play in order to pursue these strategies. Finally it will show how, after a successful industrialization process, the aspirations of the people of Africa will be achieved.

The problem: Technological knowledge deficiency- a systematic challenge Africa faces.

The litany of problems Africa is facing today, of which poor infrastructure, small internet spread, and majorly lack of skilled personnel are part, is but a symptomatic manifestation of one underlying systematic problem; the lack of systems to create, curate and retain African technological knowledge.

It is by innumerous counts, true that knowledge is power, and that those that produce it have a certain amount of control over those that consume it. Africa’s contribution to global research is just 1.1% with her budget allocation to the cultivation of knowledge through research being less than 0.5%. In contrast, developed economies such as the USA, Sweden and Japan, and emerging economies such as India and china, which contribute over 39% to global research, allocate about 2% of their annual budgets to research. This allows them to cultivate technological knowledge upon which their companies and industries thrive. Due to the fact that developed economies are creating knowledge and Africa is barely doing so, they grow to have monopolies over the industries that thrive upon this knowledge. As a result, developed economies create, not only prosperity for their people, but also power to control the fates of low developing economies such as those in Africa. In her article published in the South African journal of international affairs, Lesley Masters points out the nature of partnerships that Africa engages in with developed nations. She argues that these partnerships are exploitative as “they do not allow for growth.” Each party desires something but the degree of utility each party gets from the partnership is not the kind that guarantees long term desirable results, especially to Africa. In one of the cases to exemplify her argument, she points out Japan’s engagement with Africa where “leading science and technology is being shared with industrialized nations and less advanced technology is going to developing nations.” This relationship denies Africa of the power to solve her problems effectively and makes her a target to the adversities that arise from it. Because of knowledge gaps that exist in the African knowledge structure, such nations as Japan hold an upper hand even in strategic negotiations with Africa.

Another example of the power such nations have over Africa due to limited African technological knowledge is the inability of some African entrepreneurs to utilize some internet services as some e-payment services to scale up their businesses due to them being geographically located in Africa. The challenge of failing to cultivate knowledge, especially technological knowledge hinders Africa from development, obstructs her from creating industries, and prevents her from engaging in meaningful global parnerships.

The solution: The growth of knowledge-Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) based education and research based industrial growth.

This strategy focuses on making the African people the biggest resource of Africa by empowering them to be not just the beneficiaries of an industrialized Africa, but also the benefactors that sustain it.

The solution to Africa’s current dilemmatic situations in relation to industry is to prioritize strategies that acknowledge the opportunities of industry 4.0 and exploit them optimally.

The most Ideal of such strategies is remodeling education to focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). From a much lower level in the education of young Africans, STEM learning must be key in preparing Africans for a world of creating knowledge. There must be massive investments in research and development in those fields to create technology unique to the African context. High performing models of STEM learning devised by both African scholars and scholars African governments contract from outside of Africa must be implemented to start producing knowledge through research that will be passed downward from the highest levels of education to the lowest. Methods of production, utilizing the usage of smart systems and the moving forward in the production and use of cleaner energy will be part of the good result research will give. STEM education will also facilitated the strengthing of the African knowledge structure The present and the past have taught the world that knowledge is an important factor in modeling international geopolitics and producing industrialized economies. It is not a coincidence for Singapore, being with the best education system in boosting the relevance of STEM, to also be the most successful country of the 21st century on the Economy sub-index. Knowledge will increase Africa’s geopolitical position in terms of global market share and other crucial aspects necessary for industrialization. Through this strategy, the workers of the 21st century will be trained and inspirations from such knowledge will result into creating advanced products that will better the lives of Africans and the world at large.

The second but equally important part of the strategy is to invest in programs that enable innovation. In the year 2020, according to Foresight report, Africa collectively filed for 412 patents, merely 0.15% of the worldwide total. This only means Africa is still lagging embarrassingly behind the rest of the world in innovation, considering the fact that Africa Has 16% of the world‘s population. Without attempts to increase innovation on the continent, she will continue to be simplistic in her production techniques hence getting stuck in the “second industrial revolution”, which was already rendered obsolete by technological advancements. The move to expand exportation by increasing her global market share will be harder or impossible because of Africa producing products that have better and more advanced alternatives. She must invest massively in innovation to create an innovative population which will permit the proliferation of more advanced and digitized production technologies to produce for the world more advanced goods that will give her a competitive edge over the rest of the developing world that would not have as young and innovative a population as Africa has in addition to her nature endowments.

Africa will be better placed in world negotiations for trade and market if she has the knowledge, the innovations and strong systems to sustain both through her people.

The role of African leaders in pursuing Africa’s industrialization strategies.

African leaders primarily have to create a discipline that allows them to respect treaties and pursue the materialization of the strategy. In agenda 63, the African people envisioned silencing guns by 2018. The results are not necessarily the worst, but some parts of Africa still have conflicts due to political wrangles over power. Such grumblings if they continue to exist and escalate threaten the industrialization process and Africa’s prosperity at large. African leaders therefore must correct the politics of their respective domains through effective constitutionalism if Africa is to achieve peaceful and sustainable industrialization.

Leaders must actively engage African scholars to start the system STEM learning. They must also enter partnerships that aid the long term development of the African industrial sector and exit those that do not. The new partnerships must aid the transfer of knowledge to Africa in order to patch the knowledge gaps in Africa’s knowledge structure.

Finally, African leaders must rally their people to streamline their priorities to pursue the strategy herein. This is in order to create a more industrially united Africa that indeed exploits her strengths and offsets the effects of her weaknesses. If leaders play this role effectively, this will guarantee a people based industrial growth as envisioned by the African people in their aspirations in Agenda 63.

How the aspirations of the African people will be realized through industrialization.

The process of having a knowledge growth based industrialization through research, in addition to enabling the discovery of modern-day and future demands and satisfying them using cleaner than ever, and smart systems will unite Africa as each African country tries to figure out their contribution to the strategy herein.

Increased education focused on STEM will increase each African’s value in relation to industry. This is what the African people aspire for in Aspiration 1, to grow as a collective through methods that sustain that growth.

Women in the past had no space in manufacturing because of an unfair societal order and because of the fact that production techniques where highly laborious and required physical strength which put men in a more advantaged place to work and contribute to industrialization. As a result, women were seen as none contributing members of society which contributed highly to their marginalization. The strategy explained in this article, because it leans more on creating automation and smart systems, women will be respected more and will take their rightful place as fully dignified members of the African society. This is what the African people aspire for in aspiration 6 of agenda 63, where they envision an Africa, whose development is people driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth, and caring for children..

Conclusion.

Africa has never been closer to prosperity than in the 21st century. For the first time in the metamorphosis of global industry, Africa’s industrial problems, as much as started by colonial powers, are not sustained by external parties like in the past industrial revolutions. This means Africa has the most power in the elimination of her problems. Secondly, Africa is developing in an era of ever growing technologies and massive outbursts of scientific discoveries which gives her the chance to skip some levels of industrialization that are either apocalyptically adverse to humanity, or obsolete. Thirdly, Africa already has a blueprint to an already tested strategy as these steps have already been employed by countries such as Singapore. The addition of Africa’s young and vibrant population, and her natural resources is an extra advantage to her in this pursuit for industrial development. Africa with all these advantages is the potential biggest winner of industry 4.0.

African leaders have a role to play in creating the right conditions for prosperity. They must be disciplined to respect agreements and must work towards hitting the targets of their commitments. This will break all political barriers hindering Africa’s knowledge acquisition. They must also agree on the strategy herein in order to create harmony, and for no country in Africa to be left behind, as that threatens the prosperity of the rest of Africa.

The Africa we want will be created for and by the African people through creating an industry inspired by African technological knowledge and through boosting innovation to sustain exponential growth.