Europe and the United States contributed to the development of China when they outsourced low-level factory jobs to China. China’s industrialization policy would not have worked if it had not become the manufacturing capital of the world.
For years, African leaders have been plotting a strategy to clone that trajectory, expecting that it could disintermediate the linkage between Europe/USA and China by inserting itself, as an outsourcing hub, as wage rises in China, when compared with Africa.
In this Harvard Business Review article, I posited that it would be a huge mistake if Africa tries to pursue the same strategy which had worked for China. The core of my thesis is that what worked for China has expired since the factory jobs of the future in Europe and the US would be done by robots and AI systems. Consequently, African policymakers must develop a new developmental playbook that takes into realities of the present state of Africa.
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Over the last few years, we have collected enormous data for Tekedia Capital for our investments. Among many options, Africa’s path to development will come by deepening its digital infrastructure around its young people. And once it does that through quality digital education and skill, it can remotely offer services to Europe and North America. In other words, while Europe and the US outsourced factory jobs to China, in the near future, they will outsource “digital jobs” in multifaceted ways to Africa. Yes, we will export digital creatives and remote work to them.
The implication is that young Africans will not need to leave the continent but would earn income remotely, and upon importing the income, many economies would be transformed at scale. If we can educate more into the higher capability skills of AI, Africa will develop and in less than 25 years, we will experience industrialization. Nigerian youth alone can earn 3x Nigeria’s revenue from oil if a national policy on exporting digital skill is enacted and implemented. That policy will rest on top-grade education with digital infrastructure to accelerate our evidential comparative advantages on creativity.
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