By Professor Okanga Boniface and Professor Adri Drotskie
Johannesburg Business School, University of Johannesburg-South Africa
8 January 2026
Whether Africa wants it or not, industrialization will emerge as the new game-changer for at least the next 100 years. In the next 100 years, constant increment of Africa’s population will induce a lot of mutating socio-economic challenges. Unemployment will increase. Poverty and destitution in most African cities will surge. This will affect the population’s standard and conditions of living as well as quality of life. Conflicts, crimes and youth-inspired violence will also become rampant (United Nations Population Fund, 2025). In all these, new thinking, insights and approaches for doing things will emerge to either cause confusion, chaos and complicate life or even make things better. In the quest to deal with all these mutating complexities, it is not free education that will offer solutions. Not even the change of the country’s political leadership, as some politicians often think, will solve Africa’s problems. Without prescription of the accurate solutions to Africa’s unfolding problems, Africa will be plunged into a cyclical crisis of leadership change.
When a particular group comes up to scam the population that it has the right solutions and fails to solve anything, new opposing groups will instead emerge to seek to displace the failed group. This cyclical leadership change crisis will go on and on without solving any crisis. Instead, this will cause confusion, chaos and disruptions that affect the realization of the best for Africa’s population. Yet if that is not the problem, not even the much-talked-about initiative of increasing investment in agricultural production will respond to these Africa’s challenging needs and demands. Instead, it is industrialization that will emerge as the major game-changer. With improved industrialization, even increased investment in agriculture will increase with limited government intervention. Increased demand for agricultural inputs to be used as raw materials in different industries will drive increased investment in agricultural production. It is industrialization that most African governments that care to do so will rely on to create and deliver the desired goods and services to its exploding population. Such a view accentuates Franck and Galor’s (2015) articulation that industrialization is the strategic ideology that encourages the population’s systematic engagement in the accomplishment of more value-adding activities. It is used as a catalyst for the country’s improved economic productivity and growth.
While using the designated approaches, the process of industrialization may use any of the approaches that include export-oriented, import-substitution, resource-based or infrastructure-based industrialization. Industrialization may also take the form of technology-driven, industrial parks and special economic zoning, human-capital development, small enterprises’ development, sustainable or developmental-state industrialization (Yong, 2020; Torreggiani & Andreoni, 2019; Bahodurov, Khoshimov & Alsaoub, 2025). Africa’s surging population will cause scarcity, shortages and price increases. This will make life more difficult. Hence, industrialization will not only solve the problems of unemployment, but also scarcity of certain goods that can affect the quality and standard of living. When the population becomes comfortable, this will create some form of stability and peace for even a plethora of more industrialization initiatives to follow. For now, the more money that Africa pours into industrialization, the better for the continent. Instead of demanding anything else from government, Africans should be demanding the speedy implementation of industrialization initiatives from their governments.
Africa’s population increment will take up most of the available employment opportunities. Thus, it is through industrialization that African governments will respond to the growing challenges of unemployment on the African continent. Unfortunately, in Africa, aspirations of how to attain faster economic growth and development are often misplaced. Even if industrialization is the key, it is often not uncommon to hear even the most informed politicians reckoning that it is something else that will propel Africa to economic freedom. Some argue that it is free trade and movement across the African continent that will induce economic freedom. Others posit that it is limiting the European and American intervention and exploitation of the African continent that will induce economic freedom. All these arguments are correct. But without industrialization, free trade across the African continent will not induce much economic value. Neither will the reduction of European and American intervention and exploitation of African resources create any unimaginable economic values for the African population. In the debates of how to improve Africa’s economic progress, some politicians use shallow and outdated arguments that it’s free education that will propel Africa to the next stage of good economic life. Yes, free education is important. But it is no longer the key to attaining good life or economic paradise. It is no longer the key influencer of faster socio-economic development and growth.
If it is not free education which is being peddled as the major stimulator of socio-economic growth and development, it is often free handouts or the distribution of free monies which is advocated as the instrumental driver of faster socio-economic growth. Capital for business development is required for the next stage of Africa’s faster economic growth and development. But it is not free monies and education that will propel Africa’s faster socio-economic growth and development. Africa has already laid the foundation for its population to raise and pay the fees for their own children. Africa has already created the foundation for its population to generate its own employment. Africa has already laid the foundation for better leadership and smooth democratic dispensation. What needs to be done now is shifting attention and resources away from the old concepts and narratives like free education to an ideology that supports and promotes the utilisation of new concepts like industrialization.
If Africa is to prosper, progress, grow and become happy and stable, more resources will need to be shifted away from the so-called free education and allocated for speeding the pace of Africa’s industrialization. Industrialization is a new game-changer that will enable Africa generate enormous earning opportunities for the African population to pay the fees for their own children’s education. Industrialization will enable the African population meet any medical bills. Industrialization will enable the African population build and live in better houses. Industrialization will improve the quality of Africa’s infrastructure. Through industrialization, Africa will invest in better classrooms and research facilities for better progress.
Drawing from Opoku and Yan’s (2018) analogy, industrialization will reduce the level of destitution and poverty amongst the African population. Through improved industrialization, African youths will stop risking their lives swimming across the Mediterranean Sea for the so-called “better life” in Europe. Industrialization will reduce the need for African governments to spend so heavily on social welfare and grants for the population, like South Africa that spends R560 as child grant per child per month. Industrialization will bring shame on any politician who attempts to oppose the government. In fact, it is through increased industrialization investment that Africa will attain economic and even political independence to prevent external aggression exhibited by the likes of Trump across the world. If Africa is still questioning the value of industrialization, then Nicola’s Maduro’s recent arrest in total disregard of international law insinuates how building a vibrant economic system can also improve the respect for state sovereignty by the other states. Industrialization, economic vibrancy, economic independence and state sovereignty are significantly inter-related. For that reason, Nicolas Maduro’s recent arrest raises a lot of significant questions for Africa’s industrialization as a driver of economic independence that can, in turn, prevent such incidents in the future.
Trump’s Resource-Grabbing Expedition and the Significance of Nicolas Maduro’s Arrest
If Africa had industrialized and built economic capabilities earlier, it would have developed the capacity to mitigate the increasingly dangerous Trump’s resource-grabbing expeditions across the world. Africa would have developed the capacity to mitigate the resurgence of the insanity of colonialism. With the US arresting Maduro and directing over 30–50 million barrels of oil to be transported and sold in the US for purportedly the benefits of the US and Venezuelans, it is certain that the Venezuelan event depicts the emergence of the second phase of colonialism. It is the second phase of colonialism aimed at acquiring, assimilating and integrating more resource-endowed states as part of the resource- and revenue-generating states of the United States. But with aggressive industrialization investment aimed at improving Africa’s economic capacity, capabilities and independence, Africa can be able to thwart such challenges. From China’s scenario, this is depicted in the fact that through enormous industrialization investment, China gained the global economic dominance that placed it above the political status that can be easily bullied by the likes of the United States. With such a status, the United States cannot easily do to China’s Xi Jinping what it recently did to Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. Given the economic and political threats from China, which threatens to attain superpower status by or even before 2050, the United States under Donald Trump’s leadership has sought to maintain dominance of the global economic and political power in all ways possible. In such quests, the hunt for resources to grab from weaker states is in full swing.
Realizing that Ukraine is desperate and cannot survive against Russia without US support, Donald Trump crafted and concluded the 2025 minerals deal. The deal grants the United States unfettered rights and preferential access to Ukraine’s rare earths and its other vast mineral resources. Since the emergence of the Russia–Ukraine War, the US has spent a lot of resources supporting Ukraine. Hence, the engagement in some form of payback agreement is understandable. But if one realises that defeating and preventing Russia from occupying Ukraine are the fundamental goals that the US cannot do without achieving, the minerals deal/agreement somehow becomes unfair. The deal becomes part of the broader resource-grabbing expedition aimed at strengthening the United States’ financial and economic position. As China becomes powerful economically, the US’ global economic position is also gradually threatened and weakened. Combined with a very expensive Russia–Ukraine War, which is increasingly becoming even more protracted and unwinnable, it is such underlying dynamics which are driving the United States to go on the resource-grabbing spree around the world. For that reason, it is not unimaginable that it is only the leaders of the countries with enormous natural resource endowments that commit crimes worth being addressed by the United States.
Leave alone the immunities that all presidents enjoy. In Venezuela, a country with enormous oil deposits, it is unimaginable that Trump thinks that Nicolas Maduro’s drug trafficking crimes exceeded the Houthis’ rebels’ destructive activities in Yemen. Likewise, Al-Shabaab is still active and lethal in the less natural-resource-endowed Somalia. But one may wonder why Venezuela was prioritised above Somalia. All these raise questions as to whether Donald Trump is not using unwarranted bold actions of grabbing natural resources from weaker states. South Africa has enormous endowments of all the minerals under God’s earth. And it is unlikely coincidental that it is also the same country being accused of white genocide. It is also unlikely coincidental that it is Nigeria, the major producer of Africa’s oil, which is also being accused of Christian genocide. Even if the areas occupied by M23 in the DRC are relatively peaceful as compared to before, Donald Trump still engaged in signing an agreement analogous to Ukraine’s mineral deal in exchange for US protection of the DRC government against M23’s invasion. If Trump wants to cheat resources from other countries, usage of other methods other than the arrest of the sitting head of state should be the option. The unnecessary arrest of the head of state, first of all, is against international law.
Even if international law warrants the arrest of the sitting head of state, the decision of arresting a sitting head of state is often the last resort. International law and systems work on the cooperation and understanding between countries. If heads of states are going to be arrested just like chicken thieves, then a breakage of the international order is most likely to arise. Chaos, confusion, endless conflicts and disruptions will arise. America cannot be in every part of the world. Even if it can, it will still need to utilise the local knowledge of local leaders in order to constantly stay on top of its global economic and political dominance game. But if leaders are going to be arrested just at any time, some will cooperate, while risks of sabotage may arise from different corners of the globe. Today, Nicolas Maduro’s arrest may not invoke any bad unintended consequences in Venezuela, but it will make other global leaders less cooperative and supportive of most US missions. Even if some of the Venezuelans celebrated, tomorrow, the arrest of a sitting president in some other regions of the world may invoke a lot of bad unintended consequences. In some countries, especially in Africa, the Middle and Far East, and even the same South and Latin Americas, the arrest or even the mere death of a sitting president can instigate the mushrooming of several conflicting groups.
So far, as Trump threatens to attack and assimilate Greenland, Denmark, NATO and the EU are already expressing some forms of discomfort and reservations. Colombia, on the other hand, threatens to retaliate with the required military might if the US attacks. After going through the deadly First and Second World Wars and the recent COVID-19 pandemic that shut the world down, these are the kinds of confusion, chaos and disruptions that the increasingly happier world does not desire. And when the situation degenerates into protracted uncontrollable conflicts, chaos and endless confusion like it was in Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Cambodia, Lybia, Colombia, Afghanistan and Sudan, the refugees of the fleeing civilians flood Europe and the United States. Unfortunately, when the refugees from these countries affected by the US’ bad foreign policies flood the West, the same likes of Donald Trump accuse the more liberal American systems of adopting lax immigration policies. Liberal American systems are accused for not prioritising American interests. Even to the extreme, the very likes of Donald Trump go the extra mile of invoking hate to accuse the refugees of eating the much-cherished domestic pets, dogs and rabbits of US citizens. Quite often, the Americans forget where the problems are coming from. Donald Trump had the opportunity of solving the US immigrant crisis from Venezuela, but opted to arrest the president. Even without arresting Nicolas Maduro and causing future risks that increase the influx of immigrants into the United States, Donald Trump could still have got the Venezuelan oil using other means.
Fortunately, for China, with a strong global economic powerhouse, it’s Xi Jinping who knows very well that such an “abominable thing” of arresting a sitting president can only happen in Venezuela and not in China. For Africa, it’s absurd. And as Yoweri Museveni, Uganda’s president, said, the Venezuelan president’s unnecessary arrest is a lesson and a wake-up call for Africans to rethink and take actions that prevent them from being undermined by some foreign powers. And in that process of rethinking and taking actions, industrialization is one of the game-changing economic games that Africa can play to strengthen its economic and political positions. Even if education investment is important, it is industrialization which is the game-changer and not the so-called free education.
Free Education or Industrialization?
Africa has already educated enough of its population. Instead, this educated population must take the responsibility of educating the future African population. In the early years, free education was fashionable. But it’s no longer the case. During the colonial era, colonial governments introduced free education. In fact, Africans were paid to go to school and graduate. Similar trends continued in the post-independence states. With the belief that education is everything, the likes of Uganda’s Museveni even made radical educational reforms in the late 1990s and 2000s. The reforms introduced Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education systems. Though state funding at higher education has been lowered, these radical reforms still improved the useful stock of human capital that Uganda has at its disposal. It improved and it is still improving the rate of literacy and skillfulness of the Ugandan population. In Ghana and Nigeria, as well as South Africa, similar reforms were made. But that was in the 1990s. It was in the 1990s when free education was still fashionable. It was in the 1990s when education was still perceived as the key to good life.
However, as Africa moves towards 2050, it is not free education which is fashionable anymore. It is the ability of the government to create conditions for the population to industrialize. Without industrialization, Africa will not afford the costs of educating its vast population of young people, which is predicted by the United Nations Population Fund to surge into millions and millions by 2050, unfolding into 2100. However, industrialization does not just mean the engagement in the actual manufacturing of different goods. Instead, it also connotes the economic freedom and liberty to engage in the accomplishment of any value-creating activities without the hindrance of unfair policies and things like capital limitations. Industrialization is an ideology of engaging in any form of value-creation activities for one’s own good as well as for the good of others. It connotes the ability of the government to create conditions that improve the population’s accessibility to industrialization capital. Instead of relying on government handouts, industrialization depicts the ability of ordinary citizens to create their own enterprises and make life better for themselves.
When inculcated as part of the population’s culture, empirical facts from the most enterprising countries like Brazil, China and India imply that industrialization cannot only complement, but also substitute the need for formal direct education (Matenda & Sibanda, 2023; United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), 2024). Formal direct education is important. But it is also increasingly requiring new approaches and thinking to make education create values that benefit graduates and the society. The current situation in the 2020s is different from the days of the 1990s. In the 1990s, most African states were just emerging from the post-independence conflicts and wars. Hence, the civil service had a lot of virgin opportunities. The civil service was vacant. Most citizens were often unwilling to work for government due to low pay and remuneration. In addition to the vacant civil service, a lot of opportunities also existed in the private sector. Due to a shortage of skilled graduates, most private sector players were increasingly searching for how to increase the pool of their skilled workforce. These created a lot of opportunities. With these enormous opportunities, the concept of free education made a lot of sense (Yamada, 2019). It made a lot of sense as the unquestionable path to good life. When a politician made promises of free education, he or she would attract a lot of resounding applause. Because of the perceived value of education, Nelson Mandela elucidated that “It is only through education that the son of a gold miner can become the owner of the mine”. But as Africa drifts gradually towards 2030 and 2050, the axiom that education is the key is also gradually getting eroded. Heavy investment in free education is becoming less value-creating (Mbanjwa, 2025; Tleppayev & Zeinolla, 2025). Unfortunately, even if that is so, opposition politicians like Uganda’s Bobi Wine are still unknowingly deceiving people that it is free education and not increased industrialization investment that will take Ugandans to the desired economic paradise.
Africa’s Politicians and Industrialization Dreams
Just like Bobi Wine’s misplaced vision, across the African continent, little is also mentioned about industrialization even if industrialization is increasingly becoming a catalyst for faster Africa’s socio-economic growth and development. In Uganda, a quick stroll around the Namanve–Rubi Petrol Station intersection in the evenings would certainly send signals that industrialization is the way forward. Hundreds of young people coming from work from Museveni’s created industrial park would send the message that if Uganda is to transition into an economic paradise, then industrialization is the way. Higher levels of competition amongst graduates who are not very creative, punctuated with an education system that teaches graduates to search for employment, are rendering Africa’s education system less valuable. The end results of these have been the stocking, stocking and stocking of millions and millions of graduates who only contribute little to Africa’s economic growth and development. The fundamental assumption of public education as a public good is that education must create skills that catalyse socio-economic development. But the inverse is that it seems Africa’s education system is increasingly failing to achieve that.
The correlation between Africa’s education system and its socio-economic impacts is increasingly getting weaker and weaker. It is such increasing failure of Africa’s education system which is prompting some African governments like Nigeria and even South Africa to ask some difficult questions as to whether or not to continue supporting free education. But even if some African governments aim to discontinue funding for free education, very few African governments have considered decisions of how to reallocate funds for free education towards other better options like industrialization. Given the surging African population of younger people, industrialization is a critical catalyst for socio-economic growth and development. Industrialization creates enormous opportunities and chances for not only employment creation, but also increased exports, improved balance of payments, improved quality of goods and services, and increased government revenue. In turn, increased government revenue is invested in the improvement of the quality of public infrastructure.
Industrialization is the catalyst for wealth creation. It creates improved citizens’ satisfaction and peace of mind. This contributes to improved peace and security. Just like state funding of free education as a public good, investment in industrialization is a public good that generates a lot of benefits and value for not only the designated country, but also the neighbouring countries. That implies even without higher investment in free education, higher investment in industrialization can still create opportunities for practical education. Given the surging population of Africa’s idle graduates, increasing investment in industrialization can create opportunities for the existing and emerging new graduates to think differently. Industrialization inculcates a culture of creativity. As the case of the electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Uganda indicates, industrialization offers opportunities for practical learning and problem-solving.
Even without proper education, the human capital development theory of industrialization insinuates constant exposure to complex practical problem-solving exercises to improve one’s skillfulness. It trains and develops citizens who are able to create more value-creating entities. That implies even if the most creative African states abandon the funding of free education and shift funding towards industrialization, Africa may still lose nothing. Through industrialization, Africa can be able to create industries that focus more on training and imparting skills as compared to the purely commercial-based industries. Attainment of Africa’s faster pace of industrialization will not only require the normal strategies of funding and supporting local businesses, but also some form of public-private partnership. It requires public-private partnerships through which specific industries are created to offer training and development programmes, while also producing and delivering the required goods and services.
For Africa’s economy to thrive, education will need to be made more practical as possible. It will require the use of out-of-the-box thinking to create and do something that has never been done before. It will require thinking and doing things in ways that have never been done before. One of such ways is the creation of state-supported industries that intertwine training with the actual practical processes of manufacturing and producing different goods. Even some schools and tertiary education institutions will have to be converted into factories for producing different goods. That is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking we are talking about. The good thing is that pressures from the surging population of unemployed graduates and the increasing public expenditure, which cannot be supported by the often limited domestic revenues from taxes, are driving most African governments to think out of the box. Outside that box is the general consensus that industrialization is the way to go. In Uganda, Museveni’s government has crafted industrialization as the new defining growth path for the country.
Recognizing the importance of a vibrant private sector, Museveni recalled the Asian industrialists who had been expelled in the 1970s by the then over-patriotic Idi Amin Dada. In the 1970s, while over-possessed by the spirits of “over-patriotism” and the quests to “protect” Uganda’s economy from foreign exploitation, Amin had ordered Asian industrialists out of Uganda. However, on realizing in the early 1990s that this was not just an economic mistake, but a blunder that slowed Uganda’s economic progress by at least 50 years, Museveni, the new shrewd reformist, recalled the Asians. Some Asians had already lost the appetite for exploring the Ugandan market. But the few that came back created the foundation for the modern industrialization initiatives in Uganda.
As Uganda’s market expanded and became more attractive as a result of the demographic change from 14 million people in 1986 to a population of 45.75 million people in 2020, Uganda introduced a range of policies and strategies for improving the pace of its industrialization. It invested in and encouraged the emergence and growth of a range of various import-substitution industries in sectors like plastic manufacturing, cement, tiles and other building materials manufacturing. To add value to its array of different agricultural products, the government increased investment in agro-processing industries. It also created industrial parks and special economic zones in regional areas like Mbale, Kapeka, Namanve, Kasese and Jinja.
This influenced a surge in non-traditional exports like cotton, coffee and tea from just $3 million in 1986 to $533 million in 2020 (Monitor, 2020). Recent statistics from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS, 2020) also indicate Uganda’s industrial capacity to have grown from just 400 factories in 1986 to 5,000 enterprises in 2025. Though the challenge of unemployment still lingers, these initiatives have still created millions of employment opportunities for Ugandans. Such initiatives have been accompanied by the improvement of the quality of public infrastructure like roads. To improve electricity supplies and power different industries, the Ugandan government also increased investment in the construction of major hydroelectric power supplies from Kiira, Bujagali, Karuma, Nalubaale and Isimba dams. As Uganda did and achieved all these, the Nigerian government also realised the value of increased industrialization investment as a catalyst for economic growth. More recently, Nigeria introduced its National Industrial Revolution Plan, which aims to increase investment in agro-processing, import-substitution industries and export promotion initiatives. It also created various Special Economic Zones and Free Trade Zones like the Calabar Free Trade Zone and Lekki Free Zone.
In addition to supporting the Nigerian entrepreneurs who are establishing different industries in Nigeria, the Nigerian government also created the Consumer Credit Scheme. The Consumer Credit Scheme advances loans and credit to local Nigerian consumers who aim to buy local Nigerian products in larger quantities. Such an initiative is used to boost aggregate demand and render the Nigerian market more attractive. Nigeria increased the scale of its investments in the improvement of energy infrastructure. It also introduced tariffs to protect local industries. However, despite the increasing investment in industrialization across Africa, most African countries are still facing the challenges of poor industrialization as a solution to the surging unemployment problem. Of course, trends from the United States, Germany, Australia and other developed markets indicate that industrialization is a continuous process and not a once-off event. To lay the foundation for industrialization as a continuous investment initiative, African governments will need to:
- Develop the appropriate industrialization strategy and policy framework.
Shift resources from areas of less priority to industrialization as the new commanding heights of the economy. - Lobby the World Bank and the global donor community to allocate and dedicate more funds towards supporting the African continent, which is increasingly struggling with the surging unemployment rate as a result of the exploding youth population. Compared to the other continents, African governments must raise their voices and demand to be prioritised in the allocation of the required financial support by the World Bank. Likewise, the World Bank will need to note that if Africa is not supported, it may instigate a humanitarian crisis caused by biting unemployment, poverty, destitution and conflicts.
- Allocate more funds to development financial institutions like the Uganda Development Bank, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) in South Africa, the National Investment Bank in Ghana, the Development Bank of Ghana and the Development Bank of Nigeria, etc.
- Create and increase investment in entrepreneurship grants to support and help local entrepreneurs who are emerging with the best business ideas in the manufacturing sector.
- Use a combination of the industrialization approaches that include export-oriented, import-substitution, resource-based or infrastructure-based, technology-driven, industrial parks and special economic zoning, human-capital development, small enterprises’ development, sustainable or developmental-state industrialization.
- Control corruption so as to ensure that the allocated industrialization funds are directed towards improving the speed and pace of industrialization to respond to the most pressing dichotomous needs and preferences of the African population. Best examples of the fight against corruption can be drawn from Rwanda. Rwanda, through its effective fight against corruption, has been able to direct most of its funds towards catalysing infrastructure development. This enabled Rwanda to emerge from the ruins of the 1994 genocide into a country dubbed the “Switzerland of Africa”.
- Fight poor internal corporate governance, criminal syndicates and crimes that destroy good businesses. As governments strive to create and develop thriving enterprises and industries, they will need to ensure that the appropriate policies and laws are introduced to fight poor internal corporate governance, criminal syndicates and crimes that destroy good businesses as a result of criminal conspiracy among some internal business employees.
In all these, improved integration and the adoption of policies that encourage free movement of goods and people are essential. Currently, Africa has a population of 1.5 billion people. Opening up borders to encourage the free movement of goods and people implies that it is these 1.5 billion people who will provide the first market for various products produced by African countries.
Unfortunately, problems often arise when most African governments invest in the improvement of industrialization in their countries; they often do so with the motive of increasing exports. That is a wrong assumption. Developed countries will never like our finished products unless they are raw materials or of unique better quality. This is because they also have their own finished products to sell to Africa. Hence, for Africa’s industrialization to be sustainable, the focus should be on tapping the African market prior to exploring external foreign markets. Unless it is a unique traditional African wear or clothing, it is unlikely that it can compete and sell in London against more established clothing brands. Hence, focus on the African market. China has grown to become China because it focused on the Chinese market first.
Chinese firms often produce for the Chinese market first because they know their population of 1.4 billion people offers the first market prior to exploring the external markets. When Tencent launched WeChat in China in 2011, it had, within just a few days, raked in millions of subscriptions. Likewise, Jack Ma’s Alibaba.com became Alibaba not because of foreign consumers, but because of the multitudes of domestic Chinese consumers to which it was first exposed as the initial market. Just like Alibaba and WeChat, BYD—the electric car maker, Shein—a fashion e-commerce specialist, and ByteDance—the creator of TikTok, became instant successful businesses upon creation due to the large domestic Chinese market. But in Africa, the emerging industries first explore external foreign markets prior to retreating and resorting to the domestic market. If that is changed and combined with the use of these strategies, Africa can be able to have a more successful industrialization initiative.
However, problems may still arise from inadequate public resources, misplaced priorities and political scammers. Quite often, there is a general misconception that the government has a lot of money, and it is that same misconception that can affect the implementation of highly ranked priorities that improve Africa’s industrialization. Lack of patience, hope and the false assumption that the government has a lot of money are often the major impediments. People think the government has a lot of money to easily change the state of a country and conditions of living to be like a heavenly state. It is only after aspiring to and entering government office that it becomes apparent that the government does not have adequate funds. Several competing priorities, limited domestic tax revenues, demanding donors and their stringent conditions, and higher indebtedness of countries to other countries or donors render resources that could have been perceived as adequate, inadequate. Like the other African countries, such incidents of lack of resources are reflected in the recent Kenyan situation. Though William Ruto, the current Kenyan President, was part of Uhuru Kenyatta’s government, he acted during the campaigns as if he would do what Kenyatta had deliberately failed to do and deliver to Kenyans. Hinging his campaigns on the mama-mboga and wheelbarrow pushers’ philosophy of poverty reduction, Ruto, the distinguished PhD holder from the much-acclaimed University of Nairobi, promised to introduce a bottom-up policy-making approach that would uplift all Kenyans out of poverty. Though well intentioned, it did not take long before Ruto’s new government realised that it could not raise adequate funds to implement and deliver all his promises. Given the momentum, enthusiasm and vigour that his campaigns had created, ordinary Kenyans could not wait for Ruto to immediately deliver on his promises. Ruto created hope that rendered ordinary Kenyans impatient to get the best out of him. And a few moments later, it was that impatience that became the source of problems.
Impatient African Voters and Industrialization
Impatience led to the creation of a very conscious Gen Z that scapegoated, using the Finance Bill as an excuse for doing all that they wanted during the riots (Liverseed, 2025; Pham, 2025). Impatience is one of the things that is not good for conceptualising and implementing an array of strategies that improve Africa’s industrialization. Contrary to the general assumption that the government always has a lot of money, Kenya was heavily indebted, and the fastest ways of raising revenue were through tax increments. Hence, the introduction of the Finance Bill. The Finance Bill sought to increase taxes, only to instigate deadly riots led by the so-called Gen Zs. Because the campaign was based on the false hope and message that the government had a lot of money which Uhuru Kenyatta did not want to spend, it became easier for some hidden hands to incite Gen Zs to riot. Because the campaign was a scam that the mama-mbogas would, as soon as possible, be lifted out of poverty—which was not true—it became easier to convince ordinary local Kenyans to turn against Ruto. They did not give him time to settle, think, explore and discern the best ways of implementing UDA’s manifesto.
Ruto’s situation reflects the circumstances that most African governments experience. Because an impatient population is created during elections, governments often do not have time to sit down, assess the situation and deliver the best for the population. To respond to the increasingly impatient population, some governments act by introducing different programmes without much thought about the enormous positive socio-economic value that the programmes would generate. Because politicians want to be seen to be doing something, even if they are doing nothing, they often introduce simple socio-economic programmes like supporting youth groups, women’s groups or rural communities. If integrated with the increased industrialization investment, the best can be obtained from the implementation of such initiatives. But that is often not the case. Impatience among most African populations is often the problem.
Industrialization takes time. It takes decades to achieve, and most politicians are often unprepared to spend and commit a lot of resources to socio-economic programmes that may take decades for the best fruits to be achieved. To gain quicker political capital, most African governments would just build a few roads, schools, health centres and administrative infrastructure here and there to convince the population that something is being done or has been done. This causes misplaced priorities that affect the allocation of government resources towards the implementation of long-term socio-economic programmes that improve Africa’s industrialization. Politicians in government do not like programmes that take years to implement.
Most African governments demand only intervals of five years before another election is held. For an industrialization programme to spread and cascade throughout the country, five years is too small. Yet most African citizens still blindly follow the “Westminster Model of Government”, which requires that elections for all political offices in government must be held after every five years. For more complex socio-economic programmes like the implementation of industrialization programmes, poverty reduction programmes, electric rail construction and other mega long-term projects, five years is quite small. To generate quick achievements that can be used for accounting to the electorate in the next elections, some politicians just do anything that can impress.
Especially if the government in power does not believe that it will win the next election, it may tend to be reluctant to do its best to conceptualize, introduce and implement programmes like industrialization that often take years to be achieved. That explains why some governments have removed presidential term limits. It also explains why some countries, like Rwanda, changed their political tenure of office from five years to seven years. The positive results of such a decision are easily discernible in the development of Rwanda, which is regarded as one of the most developed countries in Africa. Periodic holding of elections after every five years causes the misplacement of resources. Instead of funds being used for productive activities like improving industrialization, the resources are wasted on elections. Compared to other more industrialized countries, this explains why it is taking a bit longer for Africa to industrialize and compete with the likes of China, India and Singapore.
Industrialization occurs under a very stable political system. A lot of studies have confirmed the significant positive co-relationship between political stability and industrialization. Political stability does not just mean the absence of the kinds of wars unfolding in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rapid Support Forces’ Sudan. Instead, it also means the process of changing political leadership in different offices using less disruptive ways. It is not the process of treating political change of leadership as a matter of life and death, but as a process which must be supportive of the overall socio-economic well-being and stability of the state. While recognizing political stability as critical for influencing faster socio-economic development, Germany, the world’s third-largest industrialized economy after the United States and China, removed term limits. Though it holds political elections after every five years, term limits are removed to create opportunities for more useful political leaders like Angela Merkel, who had good vision for the country, to run again and again until their visions are achieved. This creates a conducive and stable political system for industrialization. It creates a long-term political tenure that supports the implementation of various industrialization programmes that often take some years to be realized.
Just like Germany, China, the world’s second most industrialized and largest economy, has also adopted a range of measures for ensuring political stability. In the first instance, China has adopted a one-party political system where all political elections and activities are accomplished under the Chinese Communist Party. No opposition political parties are allowed. Anyone aspiring to be elected into any political office must join the Chinese Communist Party to be nominated and elected to move up the political ladder. Use of such a system has eliminated unnecessary political competition and sabotage that often arise to disrupt the normal flow of economic activities. This creates stability and conditions that are essential for bolstering the state of a country’s industrialization. Unfortunately, while more industrialized economies have made modifications and adjustments to their political systems to suit their conditions and thinking in ways that do not disrupt normal business activities, in Africa, political concepts, irrespective of whether suitable or unsuitable, are cut and pasted directly from England or New York without any modifications and adjustments. This has caused problems.
China does not have different tribes, but it realised the dangers of political competition and introduced the one-party system. But Africa, with all its different, competing and even hostile tribes, often just replicates political concepts without any modifications from England, which does not have any tribes. The result has been increasing divisionism and disintegration of communities in the name of democratization. Because democratization is built along tribal lines, it often becomes difficult for the winning political group or party to adopt, embrace and take forward the industrialization concepts and policies introduced by previous governments. Even if the idea is good, fear of being associated with ideas introduced by purportedly hated previous political groups often causes the abandonment of good ideas that could have edified Africa’s faster industrialization. For that reason, some African states are often experiencing cyclical problems of industrialization and its undesirable effects on declining employment opportunities, tax revenues, exports, balance of payments and declining standards and conditions of living.
Use of the wrong political system on the wrong continent causes the misplacement of priorities. It misdirects attention, energy and resources towards areas that do not create the desired socio-economic values that can catalyse the overall pace and speed of Africa’s socio-economic development. Because the Westminster Model of Government duplicated from England says elections must be held every five years, Africans also blindly do it, only to disrupt and destroy the achievements gained over the years. Even if the change of leadership will induce nothing, ordinary people still spend a lot of time on it, only to realise later that not much has been achieved. In Liberia, while using his football charm and charisma, George Weah, the renowned former world football star and first African footballer to win the Ballon d’Or in 1995, scammed Liberians by promising to deliver heaven during his presidential campaigns (Giahyue, 2023; Jalloh, 2017; Radio France International–RFI, 2022). But when the time for delivering came, George Weah became more invisible as poverty, unemployment, inflation and corruption skyrocketed amidst deteriorating public trust and confidence.
In Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development launched fierce campaigns against the late Edgar Lungu’s Patriotic Front. Though Hichilema has outlined a range of radical economic reforms to be implemented as time unfolds, the ordinary Zambians who overwhelmingly voted for him in 2021 are increasingly getting concerned and impatient about the failure to quickly curb the constantly rising rate of poverty, unemployment, inflation and sluggish economic growth. Industrialization is key for solving most of these problems (Chibwili, 2025). But unfortunately, just like in other parts of Africa, Hichilema’s manifesto also remains largely silent about the initiatives that he and his United Party for National Development would pursue to improve the state of Zambia’s industrialization as a catalyst for socio-economic development and growth. These illustrate how political pressure and misplaced priorities can create conditions that undermine the successful implementation of Africa’s industrialization initiatives. Going forward, these challenges can be addressed by ensuring political stability. Africa will also need to adopt political concepts and models that suit the uniqueness of Africa’s political and socio-economic conditions and landscapes. These must be accompanied by the use of honest campaigns to avoid creating an over-enthusiastic crowd that expects the impossible from the government, only to derail focus on activities that could have catalyzed the pace of Africa’s industrialization.
Citation: Okanga, B., & Drotskie, A. (2026). Industrialization: Africa’s New Game-Changer for the Next 100 Years. London: Cloud Analytika. https://cloudanalytika.com/industrialization-africas-new-game-changer-for-the-next-100-years/
Further readings
Bahodurov, J., Khoshimov, V., & Alsaoub, N. (2025). The joint impact of industrialization and foreign direct investment on economic growth: Evidence from Asian countries. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 15, 175–223. https://doi.org/10.4236/ajibm.2025.151010
Chibwili, E. (2025). AD957: Zambians dissatisfied with their economy and the country’s overall direction. Afrobarometer. https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/ad957-zambians-dissatisfied-with-their-economy-and-the-countrys-overall-direction/
Franck, R., & Galor, O. (2015). Is industrialization conducive to long-run prosperity? (IZA Discussion Paper No. 9158). Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
Giahyue, J. H. (2023). End of an era: How corruption in Liberia cost George Weah the presidency. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/23/end-of-an-era-how-corruption-in-liberia-cost-george-weah-the-presidency
Jalloh, B. (2017). George Weah on his plans for Liberia. DW. https://www.dw.com/en/liberian-president-elect-george-weah-on-his-plans-for-the-country/a-40866675
Liverseed, C. (2025). Kenya Finance Bill protests. University of Wisconsin–Madison. https://thenonviolenceproject.wisc.edu/2025/04/29/kenya-finance-bill-protests/
Matenda, F. R., & Sibanda, M. (2023). The influence of entrepreneurship on economic growth in BRICS economies. Economic Research–Ekonomska Istraživanja, 36(3). https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2023.2275582
Mbanjwa, S. T. (2025). Beyond the degree: Understanding the high graduate unemployment rate in South Africa – A case study on Bachelor of Applied Science in Nature Conservation graduates – A cross-sectional study. Student’s Journal of Health Research Africa, 6(6), 10. https://doi.org/10.51168/sjhrafrica.v6i6.1674
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Opoku, E. E. O., & Yan, I. K.-M. (2018). Industrialization as driver of sustainable economic growth in Africa. Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, 28(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638199.2018.1483416
Pham, D. (2025). The revolt that wouldn’t die: Kenya’s Gen Z vs. debt, corruption, and state violence. American Community Media. https://americancommunitymedia.org/international-affairs/the-revolt-that-wouldnt-die-kenyas-gen-z-vs-debt-corruption-and-state-violence/
Radio France International–RFI. (2022). Liberia’s George Weah under pressure over handling of corruption allegations made by US. https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20220830-liberia-s-george-weah-under-pressure-over-handling-of-corruption-allegations-made-by-us
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United Nations Industrial Development Organization. (2024). The future of industrialization: Building future-ready industries to turn challenges into sustainable solutions. UNIDO. https://www.unido.org/sites/default/files/unido-publications/2024-11/The%20Future%20of%20Industrialization%20-%20Building%20Future-ready%20Industries%20to%20Turn%20Challenges%20into%20Sustainable%20Solutions.pdf
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