GEOG3000 - Analyzing Trends and Business in Sub-Saharan Africa

This report identifies and analyzes the major environmental, demographic, cultural, social, political, and economic issues and trends in Sub-Saharan Africa. It highlights the region's potential for development, focusing on environmental and socio-cultural scenarios. The report explores business opportunities for Canadian companies, particularly in sustainable energy solutions like solar photovoltaic panels and e-learning initiatives. It emphasizes the importance of addressing challenges such as political instability, poverty, and environmental degradation to foster economic growth and improve the quality of life in Sub-Saharan Africa. The report also touches upon various organizations working towards sustainable development goals in the region, indicating a promising future with proper planning and investment.

Running head: TRENDS IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA
TRENDS IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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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

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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,

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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

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renewable energy resources. A sustainable housing programme has been launched by BBOXX
which will be covering 250,000 customers in Rwanda. The housing programs will be equipped
with renewable energy systems for the households. (African Review, 2018)
The demographic issues mostly contain the child mortality rates, poverty rates, health and
gender discrimination and issues related to epidemics and diseases have left the continent
paralyzed. The impact of HIV AIDS has been huge in the continent. The continent is attributed
with the lowest average life expectancy at 57 years. Issues concerning health and sanitation are
also among the most severe of the demographic concerns in the world.
The political trends mostly in the sub Saharan Africa has been related to extreme
instability with severe civil wars, political conflicts, ethnic and territorial disputes in Somalia,
and Congo and South Sudan has been detrimental for its growth. Political environment of the
Sub Saharan Africa has been critical post the colonial era. The continent has experienced unrest
and disputes over trade and resources which aggravated with continuing political conflicts. Most
of the nations have gradually adopted closed political systems with democratic structures and
reforms are being made continuously to upgrade the scenario. The continent has been
experiencing huge support from nongovernmental originations, funds and relief programs to
rehabilitate the conflict zones. Radio based civic educational programs and educational
campaigns are gradually allowing development to happen in the country. The national
Democratic Institute is fostering growth with its expansive educational programme that has been
changing the scenario in the Sahel countries of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria (Ndi.org. 2018).
The South African Development Community has also contributed considerably in the political
situation.

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The economic growth has restricted itself due to the ongoing political issues and has
resulted in inflation and foreign debts have aggravated the situation. The growth has been fairly
low in the African continent with the regional growth dipping to 2.6% in 2016. The total debt of
the African Union (AU) sums up around US $ 200 billion while the AU has only 2% of the
world trade. The growth has fallen considerably with a decreasing inflation. The pressure of debt
has also reduced chances of investment (IMF, 2018).
The socio cultural background of Africa is as diverse as the continent. The rich ethnic
diversity and resources has left the continent with a vast potential to grow culturally and socially.
Issue like social protection, child and women rights, gender equality are still below the global
average and the Sub Saharan Africa needs to develop a lot in these sectors in order to foster
development (Development Policy & Analysis Division, 2018).
Literacy rates and access to education is also one of the issues of concern. However
several projects funded by the UNESCO in the continent is aiming at mobile learning. This can
be an opportunity in developing a business framework that brings technology and learning
together. As Nhando (2018) finds out the key challenges of providing digital education and E
learning, it can be understood that this sector has a huge potential. As Simon Rey, reports in IOL
Business Report about “How Africa wins through design-centered and
learned entrepreneurship” it gives hope that Africa is transforming with a
positive growth in the next few decades.
The possibility: issues that have prospect to develop
Of the several issues that the continent is facing a crisis with, it seems that the trends in
Environment and socio cultural scenarios have scope to develop and foster economic growth and

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development. These are the two sectors where there is immense potential for the continent to
grow economically and sustainably thereby promoting business and economic growth.
Looking at the environmental scenario, the continent has vast reserves of minerals and
metals that can be harnessed safely with economic prospects. The continent is bountiful with
renewable resources and these can be exploited in an organized manner. The mineral resources
have a huge potential not just the fossils fuels but also elements such as rare earth metals
agricultural products can bring substantial change. The immense tidal and solar power is also
something that has the potential to prosper.
The organisations like RIPPLE AFRICA, Environment AFRICA have projects that are
investing towards sustainable environmental goals and developments. Similar organisations and
projects are being carried out by several organisations aimed at developing the environment and
the society as a whole (Rippleafrica.org, 2018). The prospects in investing in the environment
along with community development will enrich the country effectively with concrete out comes.
The socio cultural scenario is one major sector that has immense scope to develop in the
continent. School dropouts and literacy rates are seemingly low. The Livingstone Accord signed
by 13 nations of the Sub Saharan Africa gives hope for social security and protection of these
rights (Africaresearchinstitute.org, 2018). The social policy framework has been followed by the
Livingstone Accord to maximize growth in the socio cultural background. Global organisations
like UNICEF, Child Relief and You (CRY) have been working extensively to elevate the social
condition in the continent. The UNICEF reports that the future of humanity is increasingly
African; projecting that by 2050, 40% of the world births will be African and will be the six out
of ten rapidly growing economies.

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Business opportunity: an ocean of prospect
The environmental issues are the biggest challenges of the day and the developed nations are
struggling to meet the standards. The African continent being still unexploited leaves with
greater opportunities to restore its environment and promote sustainable means prior to its further
degradation. The Canadian companies investing in cleaner energies can start investing in
sustainable energy production in the continent. Few of the South African countries have
economies that have greater average than global figures. GDP in Angola, Mozambique, and
Ethiopia have promising GDPs and long term investments can be made with adequate future
planning. With the UNs Sustainable Development Goals or SDG for the next decade, prospect
for cleaner energy resources will grow in the continent.
Business ventures that would look into offering reliable cost effective solutions to
sustainable energy productions would prosper without doubt. The installation of Solar
Photovoltaic panels can be the most productive, and lucrative product to promote for in the
continent. The business strategy should be devised keeping in mind the remote nature of the
continent and the access to basic energy is a requirement of SDGs.
The business venture would be aimed at providing sustainable energy to the marginally
compromised sections of the society along with the commercial applications in the continent at
affordable pricing. This will help to reduce the pressure on the government in providing power to
remote sections and at the same time empower these sections sufficiently to meet their needs.
The government subsidies can also attract greater outreach and promotion of the Solar panels and
their application (UN Environment, 2018). The initiative will not only allow investments and
good returns in it, but also empower lives individually to foster economic development. The

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investment in the renewable energy systems will also affect the socio political lives of the people
and open newer avenues of commercial investment (UNDP in Africa, 2018).
The socio cultural background can also be involved in the process to provide employment
opportunities and sustainable growth. The organisations involved in providing child development
gender equality promotes options to tap these resources as a business project. The project will
ensure electronic learning facilities to the people in order to provide them with opportunities and
employment (UNHCR, 2018). The promotion being strong enough, will allow the organisation
to boost its growth and economic outcome. The targeted group will be uneducated adults to
lower groups of students in order to make them accessible and popular. The cost feasibility will
also ensure greater participation and thereby greater outreach.
Conclusion
The growth of any region depends on the factors that add up to the national interest. The Sub
Saharan Africa holds key to future development goals and adequate planning and
implementation can bring about constructive development both for the African Continent, and
for the investing stakeholders. The paper reveals the scenarios that are existing in the Sub
Saharan Africa with respect to their socio cultural impacts and environmental issues. The various
programmes being carried out by the several organisations ensures that Africa is likely to grow
substantially with change in all spheres. The necessary applications that can bring about potential
change are the ones that would govern the African market in the years to come. With necessary
plans and implementation the sub Saharan Africa can have a vast sea of opportunities that would
provide economic development along with social and cultural backdrops. The business
investments would also elevate the condition of the people the continent.

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References
African Review. (2018). Tomorrow’s Rural Home launched by BBOXX. Retrieved from
http://www.africanreview.com/energy-a-power/renewables/tomorrow-s-rural-home-
launched-by-bboxx
Africaresearchinstitute.org. (2018). Livingstone Accord - Africa Research Institute. Retrieved
from https://www.africaresearchinstitute.org/newsite/tag/livingstone-accord/
Development Policy & Analysis Division. (2018). Development challenges in
sub-Saharan Africa and post-conflict countries | Economic Analysis &
Policy Division. Retrieved from
https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/publication/cdp-policy-
note-2005/
Environmentafrica.org. (2018). Environment Africa — Supporting Conservation & Communities
for Today, Tomorrow and the Future. Retrieved from http://www.environmentafrica.org/
IMF. (2018). Regional Economic Outlook: Sub-Saharan Africa. Retrieved from
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/REO/SSA/Issues/2017/05/03/sreo0517
Ndi.org. (2018). Sub-Saharan Africa. Retrieved from https://www.ndi.org/sub-saharan-africa.
Nhando, D. (2018). 3 Key Challenges Of Implementing eLearning In Africa - eLearning
Industry. Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/3-key-challenges-implementing-
elearning-in-africa
Rippleafrica.org. (2018). RIPPLE Africa | A charity working in Malawi since 2003. Retrieved
from https://www.rippleafrica.org/

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Rowntree, L., Lewis, M., Price, M., & Wyckoff, W. (2015). Diversity amid globalization.
Pearson Education UK. /
UN Environment (2018). Major renewable energy projects in Africa and Asia to kick off thanks
to $50 million in private investment. [online] UN Environment. Available at:
https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/major-renewable-energy-
projects-africa-and-asia-kick-thanks-50 [Accessed 4 Dec. 2018].
UN Environment. (2018). Africa. Retrieved from https://www.unenvironment.org/regions/africa
UNDP in Africa. (2018). About Africa. Retrieved from
http://www.africa.undp.org/content/rba/en/home/regioninfo.html
UNDP in Africa. (2018). Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy. Retrieved from
http://www.africa.undp.org/content/rba/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-7-
affordable-and-clean-energy.html
UNHCR. (2018). Africa. Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.org/africa.html
Unicef.org. (2018). UNICEF - Eastern and Southern Africa. Retrieved from
https://www.unicef.org/esaro/