Comments on: Africa: No Longer the Dark Continent

By: David Deans

David Deans — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:11:17 +0000

@Franklin,
Thank you for sharing your perspective, and the insight about the MTN example in Nigeria — clearly, that’s an amazing market growth story.
David

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By: Franklin Nnebe

Franklin Nnebe — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 10:39:31 +0000

A lot has changed in Africa in the past 40 years which slipped by barely unnoticed underneath the stream of bad news that CNN and BBC specialize in delivering out of the continent.

40 years ago Africa’s population was 1/3 what it is now, barely 10% of its people lived in cities (40% now do) and it was predominantly agricultural with practically non-existent disposable income. The economic dynamics have changed which is why the growth of telecoms happened at a rate few expected. For example, at inception MTN the leading mobile telephone service provider in Nigeria expected the total market size to be only 5 million connections. Today there are over 85 million mobile connections.

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By: David Deans

David Deans — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:22:08 +0000

@Dan,
Agreed, trust is very important — it’s also most valuable when it’s mutual.
David

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By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 10:23:46 +0000

It’s true that Africa is developing very much, but still it needs support from stronger countries. I think that companies should prepare for a battle, which of them is going to gain the trust of the African people.

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