What to Expect as Africa Trade Week 2019 Beckons

Segun Atanda/

Dates have been announced for this year’s edition of Africa Trade Week, as organizers reveal impressive economic growth figures and how Africa is becoming an attractive destination for trade and export.

Starting from June 23 to end on June 25, 2019, the event organizers say Africa is open for business and the continent is looking increasingly attractive as a trade and export destination, with average annual growth for Sub Saharan Africa forecast at 8 per cent until 2023, which is a positive outlook following the downturn between 2015 and 2017.

This is according to Liz Whitehouse, MD of Africa House and Africa research partner to dmg events, who gave examples of the current trade environment and hot spots driving growth on the continent while addressing delegates at an Embassy/Consulate breakfast hosted by dmg events in Midrand, ahead of this year’s event.

Africa Trade Week will be held at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand. It includes the co-location of the South African International Trade Exhibition (SAITEX), The Hotel Show Africa, and Africa’s Big 7.

Whitehouse pointed out that East Africa is primarily the driving force of growth on the continent, with the regional economy showing no contraction, as opposed to other regions.

This is largely due to East Africa not being an extractives-dependent region, with mining and oil and gas, but just starting to become of some importance. With South Africa and Nigeria excluded from regional data, East Africa emerged as the largest regional economy by 2018, she noted.

On the other hand, Southern Africa – even including South Africa – is the worst performing major region, with Angola, Mozambique, Zambia and DRC all hit by commodity price declines, while Zimbabwe, eSwatini and Malawi were affected by a combination of commodity prices, drought and Governance issues.

“West Africa looks relatively good, with the regional GDP growing from $600 billion to over $1 trillion and Nigeria expected to rebound in 2019 and beyond,” says Whitehouse.

“Central Africa is the smallest regional economy, but ticks along and is expected to maintain growth of around 3.5% a year – much of it driven by regional gateway Cameroon.”

Whitehouse noted that by 2023, the continent will see five economies of over $100 billion (Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Angola and Ethiopia); and five more of over $50 billion (Tanzania, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC and Cameroon).

She points out that in many African countries and regions, key development drivers are inextricably linked to corridors – either by design or fortune. “As such, corridor development and ‘anchor tenants’ or projects are once again becoming critical in Africa’s development story.”

Whitehouse identifies several sectors which are key development drivers on the continent: Agriculture, extractives (stranded minerals), urbanisation & rising incomes, industrial, and ICT, telecoms & power.

On the point of urbanisation, Whitehouse points out: “Urban areas in Africa comprise 472 million people. That number will double over the next 25 years as migrants push to cities and due to internal city growth. The largest cities grow as fast as 4% annually.”

She describes the urban “middle class” as not yet a stable entity, but a large “floating class” that hovers just above the poverty line, while the lower-middle consumer group added two million people a year in last decade. The upper-middle class remains a relatively small group that is growing.

“Wealthier Africans are largely urban and are driving consumption of consumer goods and building materials,” Whitehouse says.

Africa’s top import markets remain South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Angola, with the key source of supply for all these markets being China. Not surprisingly, China also holds a significant part of the key supplier market share in these countries – 19% in South Africa and Angola and 33% in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana.

According to Lynn Chamier, event director at dmg events, Africa Trade Week will bring the world to Africa and Africa to the world to source products, discuss issues and trends, and identify opportunities for international trade. More than 11 000 international industry professionals, from 53 countries, as well as more than 500 exhibitors, from more than 40 countries, will gather for the event, which will provide ample opportunity to do business and network.

This year, dmg will introduce a premium “matchmaking” service to assist exhibitors to meet their target market and will set up and facilitate personalised meetings between interested parties.

There will also be a variety of features that visitors can expect to experience at Africa Trade Week, including: The Global Pizza Challenge, Kitchen of the Future, Africa Housekeepers League of Champions, Wine Village, IID Design Pavilion (African Institute of Interior Design) and the DTI/Brand SA pavilion.

Various workshops will also be conducted at the Africa Trade Week, such as the Hospitality Leadership Forum, FoodNext.Africa, the Trade Development Forum, Restaurant Association of South Africa Workshops and South African National Halaal Association Workshops.

Africa Trade Week 2019 will incorporate three leading exhibitions – The Hotel Show Africa, Africa’s Big 7 and SAITEX, as well as their associated conferences and workshops, to create the new home of trade highlighting pan-African business opportunities, products, services, equipment, supplies, innovations, technology and solutions. 

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