Industrialization in Africa in the Era of Globalization: Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects with a Focus on Manufacturing

Developmental Integration and Industrialisation in Southern Africa

“…Thus, the continent wanted to pool its efforts, ideas and resources for shared prosperity (Jiboku, 2017;Kah, 2012;Monyae & Nganje, 2019;Moyo, 2020b;Ndikumana, 1999). In the late 1960s, Green and Seidman (1969) (the authors of Pan Africanism: Unity or Poverty) contended that it is a well-known fact that the African continent was balkanised into the current smaller economic units.…”

“…There has been much scholarly endeavour on the African continent's lack of industrial development, and it has been argued that the only way African countries can start addressing the growing challenges of poverty and unemployment is by transforming their economies through industrialisation (Ajakaiye & Page, 2012;Moyo, 2020b;Page, 2011). According to Adebanwi (2017), the interest to understand Africa's state of development has been triggered by the co-existence of massive scale of natural resources and higher levels of poverty on the continent.…”

“…When comparing the earlier statistics to more recent ones, it becomes clear that the earlier conclusions regarding the continent's industrialisation process still hold. Moyo (2020b) emphasised that, over the last few decades, industrialisation in Africa in general, and in Sub-Saharan Africa in particular, has been disappointing. She noted that most countries still have undiversified economies with a very small or nonexistent industrial base and zero structural transformation.…”

“…Many SADC countries sought to build state capacity through indigenisation policies in the state bureaucracy, including investments in training programmes. Economic development was a major thrust of economic governance, with industrialisation being the primary objective (Evans, 2010;Monyae & Nganje, 2019;Moyo, 2020b;UNECA & AUC, 2011). However, the evidence suggests that SADC member states are deindustrialising, as indicated by a gradual decline in the manufacturing sector's contribution to GDP.…”

“…The high annual growth rates between 2000 and 2008 can be seen and the decline thereafter. Despite the periodic growth, it was not sustained long enough in any country to improve the standard of living of its citizens, which is the ultimate goal (Moyo, 2016(Moyo, , 2017(Moyo, , 2020bSubramanian, 2009). Several scholars have proved that value addition to natural resources and raw materials is the only way to inspire long-term sustainable growth (Cantore et al, 2017;Rodrik et al, 2016), especially for economies in the early stages of industrialisation in developing regions.…”