The 4th Industrial Revolution in Africa

By Sherine Chrispeels

Industrialization is the development of industries in a geographical area. It‘s the process of changing a nation’s economy from relying on agriculture to rather relying on manufacturing practices. Nowadays, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, also called 4IR or Industry 4.0, is the quick technological development occurring in the 21st century. The term “Fourth Industrial Revolution” was labeled by Klaus Schwab who’s the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum. In an article published in 2016, Schwab said: “like the revolutions that preceded it, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to raise global income levels and improve the quality of life for populations around the world.” But, before the fourth, they were the first, second and third; 

• The First Industrial Revolution 

Date: 18th century 

Focused on: the use of steam power, increasing human productivity 

• The Second Industrial Revolution 

Date: 19th century

Focused on: the discovery of electricity, automobile production 

• The Third Industrial Revolution 

Date: mid 20th century 

Focused on: partial automation, memory-programmable controls, computers 

The 4IR focuses on renewable energy (solar, wind, geothermal), the Internet (digital technology, Web3, Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR)), Blockchain, biotechnology, 3D printings, and robotics. It also advances any development of AI and produces products and services that are indispensable for our daily modern lives such as GPS, virtual assistants (Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana), … Lots of African countries have been going through the first, second and third industrial revolution, but the execution towards the 4th one has been slowed down due to numerous external factors. Despite this, effective and efficient industrialization remains one of the main promises across Africa due to the fact that it would bring more jobs, better lives and an overall increased prosperity for its citizens. 

Firstly, the African continent is very rich in terms of resources. 30% of the world’s minerals are found there, as well as 8% of the world’s natural gasses, 40% of the world’s goal and 90% of the world’s chromium and platinum reserves. Moreover, the world’s biggest reserves of cobalt, diamonds, platinum and uranium are found in Africa. It carries 65% of the world’s fertile lands and 10% of its renewable fresh and natural water resources. With those facts, we can conclude that Africa is a rich continent, maybe even the richest in the world in terms of natural resources. But what about its wealth? 

Since 2000, Africa’s GDP has increased by 4.6% every year. The main reason for this is Africa’s domestic demand which has accounted for 69% of its annual growth between 2000 and 2018. Africa's demand for processed food is increasing 1.5 times faster than the global average and the demand for other products such as vehicles or industrial machinery is also increasing faster than the global average. This enabled local organizations to grow in size and productivity. 

Moreover, the top three sectors in the African continent are ICT/Internet services, digital applications/softwares and the creation of audio-visual content/broadcasting. Tech start-ups related to those activities have growingly emerged and raised over $560 million in 2017 and $1.2 billion in 2018. This quick growth in the tech sector is considered to be a positive shift towards the 4th Industrial Revolution, said professor Victor Harrison, the African Union Commissioner for Economic Affairs.

  However, reasons why the 4IR is slowed down are because economic leaders have poor management, planning and execution of their plans or because they were killed. Many African leaders in the independence movements of African countries were assassinated due to their political beliefs and desire to industrialize those countries based on national dignity. Here is an example: Patrice Lulumba was the Prime Minister of the newly independent Congo. He was killed in the 1960s by ex-colonial masters, or their agents. In 1966, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana was killed. In 1973, Amilcar Cabral, the leader of West African liberation movement against Portugal. There were many other acts like such. 

If you want a more recent case, on Monday May 15 2023, Ralikonelo “Leqhashasha” Joki, a journalist, was assassinated. He just finished a popular radio show (Tsenolo FM) when he got shot 13 times in cold blood. His unknown assailants killed him in order to silence the journalist. He wasn’t a political or economic leader, but he was a journalist, and he was speaking the truth about Africa’s difficulties to industrialize. This political deficiency and corruption creates a gap between the beloved promises and the actions. It also discourages national and international investments which are both crucial for industrial development and growth. 

Moreover, we can’t deny and not mention colonization which unfortunately played a major role in Africa’s unfortunate failed attempts to industrialize. Technically, the Europeans had a first presence and control over Africa as early as in the 1480s. South Africa was colonized in 1652. But, it was in the 1870s that they exercised strict control and clear colonization. This has slowed down all of their technological, economic and social advancements. For example, Congo was colonized from 1908 until its independence in 1960 by Belgian colonies under the direction of King Leopold II. Its population was at around 20-30 million before colonialism, and it was estimated at 8 million after it. 

Another reason is the unevenness of wealth redistribution. Africa is considered the second least equal continent in the world. There's a giant wealth gap between the very rich and the very poor: the richest people compose 0.0001% of the population but they hold 40% of the continent’s wealth. If we take Africa’s 3 richest billionaire men, they have more money than 50% of the continent’s population which equals to 650 million people. On top of that, gender inequality creates more poverty in girls and women, who are more likely to struggle later on in their lives. As a result, Africa’s GDP has remained stagnant over the past few years. It is estimated to be around 2.4% of the total world’s GDP even though 17.89% of the world’s population lives in the African continent. 

Furthermore, the African continent’s industrialization is geographically limited; ⅔ of the manufacturing takes place in only 5 countries, with the majority mostly found in the Northern part: Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa. Based on their National Development Plans, almost all African countries have a goal to further industrialize themselves in the 4th Industrial Revolution. 

“Leaders of the 4th Industrial Revolution are not government or academia but young talented African youth.” - Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Nigerian entrepreneur and CEO of "Future Africa"  

In conclusion, Africa’s industrialization was and still remains a difficult topic to discuss as well as to execute in terms of actions due to many different factors such as lack of political stability, past colonialism, lack of manufacturing efficiency,  and high income redistribution inequality.

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