<<Print>>

Africa�s richest man Aliko Dangote has bewailed the Continent�s inability to tell her own story, a situation that he believes frustrates foreign investment on the Continent. Dangote said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that Africa�s inability to tell her own story has allowed a lot of misconceptions to fester about the Continent�s business environment and investment-friendliness. ��Unfortunately for us in Africa, we�re not really very good at telling our own story�, Dangote told the CNBC Africa�s Next Billionaire Debate on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. The Nigerian magnate who is worth about US$20 billion as of 2013, believes many foreign investors are shying away from pitching camp in Africa because they hear horrible but false and non-existent stories and stereotypes about the Continent. He said, for example, some potential investors may decide to delay their investment in Nigeria, till after observing to their satisfaction, for at least two years, the stability or otherwise of whichever government takes over power after the West African country�s November 2014 elections. According to him, foreign investors must begin to realise that all African governments are business-friendly, and thus, delaying investments due to such misconceptions is imprudent. ��I think today�there�s no government that will be against government so you go ahead to invest. The next government that will come in, even after finishing either 8 years or 10 years, they are also going to be pro-business so it means you are not going to make a mistake by investing�. In his view, although all investments come with certain risks, �our own risk is mainly perceived; not real risks�. Africa currently has a US$2 trillion economy with about a third of her 54 countries seeing annual GDP growth of more than 6%. Of the top 10 fastest growing economies in the world, six are in Africa. The Continent has abundant natural resources � gold, diamond, cocoa, oil and gas, manganese, copper, timber, etc - and will soon, according to the Harvard Business Review, have the world�s largest work force with a population set to rise to 2 billion by 2050. Africa is also home to 60 percent of the world�s uncultivated arable land with an exploding mobile technology and telecommunication industry.