WeeklySA_AdminInspire: The spirit of entrepreneurship is bursting with energy in Africa with ideas that will inspire new businesses and products in 2024
By Isaac Moledi
Despite rising food and fuel costs, weakening currencies, climate change effects, security threats, political instability, rolling power cuts and infrastructure limitations, Africa will be one of the fastest-growing regions in 2024.
This is one of the key findings in the 2024 edition of the Top 100 Business Opportunities in Africa to Watch, an annual selection of the continent’s most lucrative business ideas and investment opportunities curated by Activator HQ.
Following two years of slow post-Covid recovery, the report believes that 2024 presents several interesting opportunities for business start-up and growth in Africa. While Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Kenya and countries across the continent offer unique opportunities and challenges for new business and investment, economies like Senegal, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, The Gambia and Benin could grow by more than 6% in 2024, twice higher than the global growth of 2.9% projected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Africa Top 100, now in its 7th year, identifies specific business ideas and investment opportunities in over 30 growth markets, industries, value chains and underserved niches across Africa.
Each opportunity in the Top 100 is selected based on their relevance to local market needs, lucrativeness, competitive superiority, export potential and innovation.
The new edition, which is the outcome of months of research and analyses that considered dozens of value propositions, market trends, demand-supply gaps and business models across Africa, only consists of opportunities that have a minimum total addressable market value of R1. 8 billion ,” according to John-Paul T. Iwuoha, founder and CEO of Activator HQ.
“It is interesting to see from our 2024 selection that more business ideas and investment opportunities in Africa are actually borne from unmet market needs, difficult but highly-rewarding problems and the megatrends we have identified that are currently shaping the continent.”
As a developing continent, Iwuoha says Africa’s deficits in food security, housing, finance, education, energy and other critical areas are inspiring innovative solutions, products and services from a growing number of start-ups and growth-stage businesses on the continent.
In essence, for entrepreneurs in Africa, he believes that the problems are actually opportunities to unlock market value and create compelling value propositions.
“Our mission at Activator HQ is to make it easier and faster for entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses in Africa.”
Highlights from Activator HQ’s 2024 Africa
Top 100 Guide include:
- The food sector remains a multi-billiondollar growth opportunity for the continent. The Africa Top 100 features several business ideas across the food value chain, from agricultural production to processing, marketing and services in local and export markets.
- The digital economy presents a R3, 240 trillion opportunity for Africa by 2025. With the world’s youngest population, digital skills training and outsourcing is a strategic but under-explored market gap that brims with innovative ideas for new businesses and investments in Africa, particularly for high-demand skills like cybersecurity, data analytics, digital marketing and software development.
- The circular economy: recycling of waste, such as generating electric power from landfill waste, recovering scrap metals for reuse, and processing municipal wastewater into potable freshwater, hold interesting business and investment opportunities that could, conservatively, inject an additional R144 billion into the African economy according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
- The energy value chain is rich with opportunities for Africa. The combination of climate change effects, rising renewable energy penetration and soaring energy prices precipitated by the Russia-Ukraine war has created market gaps and opportunities for more African gas supplies to Europe.
- There are also opportunities for local substitution of cooking fuels like firewood and charcoal with natural gas and solar power applications for cold chain solutions.
- Financial services remain one of the fastest-growing and most lucrative sectors in Africa to watch in 2024. While payments and consumer finance usually get most of the attention, niche opportunities like diaspora investment funds and female-focused finance are spotlighted in the latest Africa Top 100 guide.
“In contrast to the mainstream stereotype of Africa as a ‘poor continent’, the impressive ideas in this guide show the sheer abundance of opportunities in Africa for new businesses and investments.
The spirit of entrepreneurship is bursting with energy on the continent and I am optimistic that many of the ideas in our 2024 edition will inspire new businesses, products, projects, investments, and income streams in the new year.”
