From Transformation to Competitiveness via the Workforce: The Triple Challenge of African Industrialization.

We repeat it until we are hoarse: Africa must process its raw materials to create value. This rhetoric is well known to all. As long as the continent confines itself to exporting agricultural products and natural resources in their raw state, it will suffer the negative consequences for its development. Without significant industrialization, unemployment will only grow, condemning Africa to chronic underdevelopment.

The raw materials that Africa exports return to it in the form of finished products, up to ten times more expensive. This mechanism makes the continent a net importer, far more than an exporter. Its economy remains extractive rather than transformative, thus creating little added value. On this point, we all agree: Africa must industrialize, especially since it possesses all the assets needed to produce.

But what is it that truly prevents Africa from processing its raw materials?

1. The Capital and Workforce Bottleneck.

Transforming agricultural products into finished goods – such as cocoa into chocolate, coltan into mobile phones, or crude oil into petroleum products – requires two prerequisites: capital to finance processing units, and a skilled workforce to operate them.

The capital issue seems partly resolved. In Nigeria, Dangote succeeded in securing the necessary funding to build Africa's largest refinery. This demonstrates, in theory, that the political barrier could have been lifted: our countries now authorize the establishment of industrial units. Nigeria is not an exception; Côte d'Ivoire also produces chocolate on its own soil. These are notable advances. But downstream, problems persist. In Nigeria, the Dangote refinery had to employ Indian workers due to a lack of local expertise. Therefore, his shortage of skilled labor remains a major obstacle.

2. The Mismatch of the Educational System.

It is astonishing that Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, suffers from a talent shortage in this very sector. Is it normal that its educational system does not mass-produce specialized engineers and technicians?

This dilemma is shared by most African countries: a glaring mismatch between the curricula offered and the actual needs of the job market. We produce graduates who still need on-the-job training for specific positions. The workforce must be aligned with business needs, which calls for a government policy to revitalize local industry and employment.

The workforce must produce both job-ready employees and entrepreneurs capable of creating innovative production units. Yet we train many graduates, but not enough technicians, engineers, or entrepreneurs in the key sectors of our economies.

Take Côte d'Ivoire, one of the world's largest cocoa producers. It is surprising that its universities do not produce enough specialists – graduates, technicians, entrepreneurs – in the agricultural fields of coffee and cocoa. A country whose economy is built on a specific resource should have an educational system that produces the best minds in that field, to fully exploit it in terms of processing, production, and innovation.

The challenge is clear: curricula must foster innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship to adapt to market needs and the trajectory of the global economy.

Thus, a population as large as Nigeria's should produce the best engineers, entrepreneurs, and hydrocarbon experts. If footballers like Jay Jay Okocha or artists like Burna Boy – born and raised in Nigeria – have been able to establish themselves globally among the best in their fields, why could Nigeria not produce the necessary skills to exploit its primary resource at all levels – finance, design, production, processing, and distribution?

3. Competitiveness: The Ultimate Challenge.

But one question remains: will an Ivorian making chocolate do it better than a Swiss chocolatier? In other words, even if we process our raw materials, will we be competitive on international and local markets in terms of quality, creativity, and innovation?

The fundamental question is to produce in quality and quantity superior to the existing supply. A product's uniqueness makes it a novel choice: Cuban cigars are prized worldwide, as is Ethiopian coffee.

If Africa finds the capital, builds factories, and adapts its educational system to produce a skilled workforce, it will still face market competition. If it fails to capture significant market share, production will suffer, factories will close, and the skilled workforce will face unemployment or emigrate – a brain drain phenomenon of which Zimbabwe is a sad example.

This is the complex challenge that African government policies must address through their action programs, with both downstream and upstream planning.

Toward an Integrated Ecosystem: Special Economic Zones as a Lever.

The ideal is to create an ecosystem where all links – production, training, innovation, commercialization – reinforce each other. It is not enough to have a skilled workforce; you also need to sell the products. Otherwise, factories close, and qualified young people, trained by a reformed educational system, find themselves unemployed. Unemployment will then push this workforce to emigrate, merely displacing the problem.

China succeeded in this integration by establishing Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Silicon Valley, on the other hand, illustrates another model: an innovation ecosystem that emerged spontaneously, built on research, venture capital, and entrepreneurial culture.

Combining these two models could provide a solution. The state builds the infrastructure and the fiscal framework, but must also invest in university hubs and local venture capital to hope for a Silicon Valley effect.

Special Economic Zones offer an exceptional framework to boost activity and employment:

● Fiscal and customs advantages: tax and duty exemptions, reducing operating costs.

● Infrastructure and services: access to serviced zones (water, electricity, roads) and a one-stop shop for administrative procedures.

● Simplified business climate: lighter regulations and streamlined customs procedures.

● Attractiveness and employment: creation of local jobs and technology transfer.

These measures align with my previous article on the need to harmonize customs and regulations to develop trade, especially intra-regional exchanges.

But beware: an SEZ without reliable infrastructure, poorly located, or badly managed can become an enclave disconnected from the local economy. In East Africa, for example, manufacturing's share of GDP fell from 12% in 2000 to 7.2% in 2022, despite the proliferation of such zones. The real challenge is to create not just incentives, but a complete ecosystem for sustainable business establishment.

This is why the future Abidjan-Lagos highway, mentioned in my previous article, is a boon – provided it is connected to well-designed economic zones integrated into planned urbanization. These zones will then be not mere fiscal gimmicks, but pillars of a coherent national strategy.

Success Factors and Pitfalls to Avoid.

For an SEZ to be truly successful, it must meet four key conditions:

1. Local integration: links with the national economy (local purchases, subcontracting).

2. Robust infrastructure: reliable roads, electricity, water, and internet.

3. Skilled workforce: training programs accompanying the arrival of factories.

4. Legal stability: stable tax incentives to reassure investors.

Three deadly pitfalls must be avoided:

- Unfair competition: excessive social exemptions can stifle innovation.

· Crowding-out effect: companies outside the zone, at a fiscal disadvantage, may relocate or close.

· Land speculation: buying land for resale rather than productive investment.

A success story: Shenzhen, China, which transformed from a fishing village to a high-tech metropolis in 40 years through gradual integration. Conversely, some SEZs in sub-Saharan Africa remain deserted due to inadequate infrastructure.

Ultimately, the key is that the SEZ must be accompanied by national reforms – education, justice, customs – to ensure lasting impact.

Innovation: The Differentiating Factor.

To be competitive, we need unique, high-quality products. Silicon Valley, although not an official SEZ, embodies an innovation ecosystem that emerged spontaneously, based on:

● Close ties with research (universities like Stanford),

● Unique access to venture capital,

● A culture of entrepreneurship and risk-taking.

It illustrates that a voluntarist policy can spark momentum, but that a true ecosystem also relies on cultural and historical factors.

Having a workforce adapted to the market is necessary, but not sufficient. The real challenge is to create a complete economic and financial ecosystem, backed by major infrastructure. The construction of the Abidjan-Lagos highway, combined with integrated economic zones, could be a powerful lever to create unprecedented development in Côte d'Ivoire and the ECOWAS region. Any major project must be part of a global, coherent, and visionary plan, so that Africa finally ceases to be merely the world's raw material supplier.

Marius C. Oula