“The best place to find gold is to look where it has been found before.”
The opportunities in this article have created some of the biggest successes Africa has ever seen. If you want to increase your chances of building a successful business or finding the right investment, these opportunities could make your dream come true.
Let’s meet them;
1. Media and Entertainment
Africa’s film industry has become a global and cultural phenomenon that enjoys a huge following within and outside the continent.
The industry serves an audience that’s hungry for African stories of love, drama, intrigue, comedy, redemption, action and more. It’s no surprise that Africa’s film industry is currently the third largest in the world behind Hollywood and India’s ‘Bollywood’.
‘Omo Ghetto: The Saga’ is a Nigerian romantic comedy film that was released in 2020. Africa releases hundreds of films every year but this one has totally changed the game. Just a few weeks after its release, “Omo Ghetto: The Saga” grossed over N636,129,120 Naira! It’s the largest revenue ever made by a single African movie! This is great news for the continent and a sign of more high-grossing blockbusters to come!
It’s not just Africa’s film industry that’s on the rise. African music has become hot cakes too! From Nigeria to South Africa, there’s a wave of raw and promising music talents that is sweeping across the continent. 2022 will surely be an interesting year for Africa’s entertainment industry.
2. Food & Agribusiness
The opportunities in Africa’s food and agribusiness space remain huge and will not go out of fashion anytime soon. With over one billion people to feed, Africa’s food and agribusiness market is a multi-billion dollar opportunity for entrepreneurs who know where to look.
Food production is still a huge and breathtaking opportunity. Grains, milk, and all sorts of raw and semi-processed agro products are still imported into Africa even though the continent has an enormous capacity to produce these. Entrepreneurs who can produce food products locally could reap very huge rewards.
The opportunities in food and agribusiness cover several different products across the value chain. In 2022, I expect that several African entrepreneurs will make a fortune in this industry. The possibilities are endless and largely unexplored.
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3. Retail
Africa’s retail market is a multi-billion dollar business opportunity. In addition to its over 1 billion population, more Africans are buying stuff due to their growing economies, rising middle class, and rapid urbanization.
Africa’s retail market is going through a monumental shift. Retail is gradually moving away from informal trading in open markets to organized retail in shopping malls and online stores. Africa’s homegrown supermarket chains like Shoprite, Game, Woolworths, and Nakumatt are entering more countries and are spreading fast across the continent.
The growth in Africa’s online retail market is more breathtaking. Jumia, one of Africa’s fastest-growing online retail businesses, is now worth more than $500 million. With a presence in several African countries including Egypt, Cote D’Ivoire, and Nigeria, Jumia is now regarded as the “Amazon of Africa.”
Another online retail market with a major breakthrough is Konga (Yudala). It was ranked #1 Top Startup in Nigeria by Startup Country Rankings for the year 2015. Other promising new entrants include Dealdey and Kaymu.
Note: Konga merged with Yudala to form a bigger brand.
Despite the boom in online retail in Africa, this segment currently makes up less than 5 percent of the continent’s entire retail market. There’s still a lot of room in this space to serve the African market and a lot of money will be made in the process.
Seizing Africa’s Retail Opportunities is a detailed report that takes an interesting look at the opportunities in Africa’s retail industry. According to the report, Rwanda, Nigeria, Namibia, Tanzania, and Gabon currently provide the biggest retail opportunities in Africa.
4. Fashion & Beauty
Africa’s fashion and beauty market is developing at an impressive rate. The continent’s overwhelmingly young population provides a ready market for trendy fashion. All kinds of apparel, including locally-made fabrics and imported designer labels, have become hot-selling products across Africa’s rapidly expanding urban areas.
Africa has hundreds of rising stars who are building successful businesses in the fashion and beauty industry. I’ll share a few interesting examples with you.
Suzie Wokabi is one of Africa’s leading entrepreneurs breaking into the beauty and personal care market, a sector that is dominated by international giants like Unilever, Procter & Gamble, L’Oral, and Mary Kay. Suzie Beauty, the cosmetic business she started about 7 years ago in Kenya, has become hugely successful.
5. Real Estate
The demand for both residential and commercial real estate continues to grow across Africa. However, there is still a huge accommodation shortage.
In countries like Nigeria, for example, over 16 million new houses need to be built to solve Nigeria’s serious housing problem. The estimated cost of providing these homes stands at a whopping $350 billion!
The opportunities in Africa’s real estate market include investing in land and real estate (properties) to take advantage of fast-rising property prices. There is also lucrative potential in developing middle and low-income housing and office space for sale, lease, or rent.
6. Internet & Tech
Africa’s Internet & Tech space will be a joy to watch in 2022. Tech hubs and incubators are springing up across the continent from Accra (Ghana) to Lagos (Nigeria), Jo’burg (South Africa), and Nairobi (Kenya). These hubs have become Africa’s ‘Silicon Valley’ and continue to produce the best tech innovators and entrepreneurs Africa has ever seen.
Months back, the acquisition of Saya, a mobile messaging phone app developed by two young entrepreneurs from Ghana, made the headlines. This simple app for feature phones, which was created in 2011, started to replace SMS texting and became an instant hit in West Africa and even in faraway India!
Saya is just one of several success stories in Africa’s internet and tech industry. African entrepreneurs are using the internet and technology to solve problems and challenges on the continent. From taxi services to mobile payment systems and motorbike delivery services, African tech startups are buzzing with creativity and promise.
A few weeks ago, HotStop.com, a navigation service founded by a Nigerian entrepreneur, Chinedu Echeruo, was reportedly acquired by Apple Inc. for $1 billion as part of the tech giant’s efforts to improve its web and mobile mapping infrastructure.
7. The Green Revolution
Around the world, the appetite for green and eco-friendly products and services is growing quite rapidly. Due to the threats of climate change, any solution that preserves the natural environment reduces waste and pollution and promotes reuse and recycling has become a huge business opportunity.
Several African entrepreneurs and startups are already riding the wave of this opportunity and are becoming hugely successful.
In Ethiopia, Bethlehem Alemu’s Solerebels has become the world’s first truly eco-friendly footwear brand. This hugely successful business makes footwear from recycled waste material and sells its footwear products to customers in North America, Europe, and as far as Japan.
There’s also Thato Kgatlhanye, founder of Repurpose Schoolbags which makes eco-friendly bags from up-cycled plastic shopping bags. And there’s also Patrick Ngowi, the Tanzanian entrepreneur who has built a multi-million dollar business from solar power. Biogas production from organic waste is also another growing opportunity in Africa.
The Green Revolution will definitely be an interesting space to watch!
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