Trading up – doing business in Africa

The newly appointed Prime Minister’s Trade Envoys for Africa show how the UK’s relationship with Africa is changing and developing. When I was appointed Minister for Africa I had clear instruction from the Prime Minister on what my focus should be – prosperity, prosperity, prosperity. Not just the UK’s prosperity, although that is of course important to a British Government, but also African prosperity, to grow Africa out of poverty. The last twenty years have seen uninterrupted economic growth across sub-Saharan Africa as a region. The challenge now is how to do more business and how to make business easier to do.

That is where our Trade Envoys come in. Trade Envoys are selected for their experience, skills and knowledge so they can promote the UK’s excellence globally and champion our trade and investment priorities. Through their active engagement they can help unlock barriers to entry for UK business. They can help inspire UK companies to internationalise and capitalise on exciting business opportunities overseas in markets that they might not otherwise have thought of.

That is only one half of the job. Trade Envoys, together with our excellent teams in Embassies and High Commissions across Africa, can leverage the UK’s influence and expertise to create better business environments across the board; identifying constraints to growth and seeking to resolve them. Too many African countries languish in the bottom half of the ease of doing business index. Africa’s leaders, in politics and in business, need to deal with these challenges head on and the UK can help. None of us can afford to see Africa’s potential squandered and opportunities wasted.

There are plenty of countries in Africa where there are great opportunities to do business now and we would be crazy not to be investing in the continent. Last month I attended two trade and investment forums in London, one for Guinea and the other for Sierra Leone. Not countries that jump immediately to mind when thinking of investment opportunities but they are very much open for business.

Having a healthy, vibrant and diverse economy that creates high quality jobs and generates tax revenue to support essential services is the aim of any government. I will be working closely with our Trade Envoys to make the most of the opportunities that already exist in Africa and ensuring we build our prosperity together.