Trends in Sub Saharan Africa

Running head: TRENDS IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA
TRENDS IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA
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2TRENDS IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................4
Major issues in Sub Saharan Africa.................................................................................................4
The possibility: issues that have prospect to develop..................................................................7
Business opportunity: an ocean of prospect................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................11

3TRENDS IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA
Introduction:
The sub Saharan Africa refers to the southern portion of the African continent and
excludes the states that are included in the Arabian League. The sub Saharan Africa is separated
from the Saharan part by the transitional zone referred to as the Sahel. The countries lying to the
south of the Sahara desert are categorised as the sub Saharan countries. The southern portion of
the continent comprises of state experiencing varied climate ranging from Tropical to Sub
Tropical climatic zones. The continent has immense resources and has the potential to grow into
powerful economic zones with proper planning and investment. The paper will evaluate the
various environmental, demographic, cultural, social, economic and political trends and identify
the business opportunities that are associated with these trends and the way can be implemented
to foster growth in these trends. The sub Saharan Africa is associated with political instability,
various social conflicts, education and poverty along with several other issues that make it a
conflict continent. There is ample scope in the continent to develop and implement sustainable
plans that can bring about effective change with economic growth (Rowntree et al., 2015).
Major issues in Sub Saharan Africa
The African continent is rich in resources that range from arable land, water, oil and
natural gas, minerals and wildlife. The African continent is known for its tourism safaris that
give a wonderful experience of the wild in the extensive plains of the Masaimara. The continent
is bountiful with its resources in natural and conventional sources of energy. A brief look into the
UNDP report will allow us to understand the prospect of Sub-Saharan Africa in the continent.
The continent has 30% of the world’s mineral reserves, around 8% of the world’s natural gas,

4TRENDS IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA
12% of the world’s oil reserves, around 90% of the global Chromium and platinum reserves and
40% of the gold reserves. Around 70% of the African depend on the natural resources of Africa
to sustain their lives. The exploitation of these resources has been huge in the Sub Saharan
Africa which includes illegal mining, logging, environmental degradation, unregulated fishing
and illegal trade n wild life. The UNDP report states that the economic growth in Africa has
grown to 4.5 % in 2015, almost 41% of the African live in extreme poverty, and the demographic
growth is expected to grow by 1.3 billion by 2050. A 60% of the employment is governed by
agricultural activities. Around 20% of the sub Saharan youth are unemployed; the increase in
mobile phone subscribers is an astonishing 2500% from 2000 to 2012 and around 250 million
Africans would face shortage of fresh water by 2020.
The environmental issues that are faced in the sub Saharan African continent include
deforestation, pollution from fossil fuels, water shortage due to continuous drought conditions
and severe resource degradation from illegal and unauthorized mining and hunting activities. The
environmental degradation has impacted the continent and with severe effects. Land degradation,
contamination of water and land resources have created severe impacts in the continent. The
economic poverty has restricted implementation of development goals. The waste generated is
also not managed and environmental degradation due to the wastes are also huge, the impacts in
the environment originating from chemical industries and unethical exploitation with no regards
to environmental issues.
Startup companies like GreenWish Partners are developing on and off grid renewable
energy projects. The chief executive of GreenWish partners state that their aim is to harness the
enormous potential of African’s resources in delivering sustainable growth (UN Environment
2018). According to African Review the next few decades is going to see an upsurge in