Quote from Emmanuel Awopetu on September 4, 2021, 5:17 AM

Africa, an emerging market with a considerable single digit growth rate of 3.4 percent as of 2019 is on the rise with many optimist projections. This has made many in constant pursuit of innovative ways to have a slice of the continental cake which has been locked away from the global community by outdated knowledge and poor utilization of resources- human and physical. Within her is the transformative power to place the continent in a decision making position rather than mere spectators.

With a combined gross domestic product, GDP, in excess of $2.9 trillion and a total population of 1.03 billion individual with a median age of 20 years as of writing the continent is a hotspot. Declared the second fastest growing economy by IMF, it is projected that she could hit a combined GDP of $29 trillion by 2050, 29 years from now, and a population of 4.3 billion triple of its current which would account for 39 percent of the Global population, this staggering statistics is the reason why many- individuals and nations- are raining cash to build the needed infrastructure in bit to dominate strategic pain point for their fat purse.

More so, with the heavy flood of investment coming into the continent, this article explore in comprehensive details a number of foreign investors and their investment portfolio in her acclaimed giant Nigeria, as her rise dictate the direction of all.

 

The People Republic of China

With over 10,000 Chinese owned firm, it’s no strange news that the Chinese are seeking dominance in the continent. Unlike before when her moves were triggered by several motives such as: The need to secure raw material from Africa- since it has it in excess and the Asian states need to serve her large population; the desire to increase China's global political influence; and the major growth opportunity presented by emerging market economies in Africa, now, private entities are in favor of the continent as that is their only safe path off the burning regulation that is out wild. Although, a good percentage of the firm in the continent are private operated with no little or no governmental influence, nevertheless, they all share the same interest as their government- extract and export.

Furthermore, in this respect, it government in 2007 under the supervision of China development bank (CDB) created China-Africa Development bank (CADB), which is focused on investment in the following;

• Agriculture and manufacturing
• Infrastructure and related industries such as electric power, energy facilities, transportation and urban water supply
• Natural resources such as oil, gas and minerals
• Industrial parks

 

In all cleverness, the Asian entities understands that manufacturing although the bedrock for a growing nation is not all needed. Rice when cooked needs salt! To that end it has also taken a shot at the service sector. It’s investment in the continent service sector anchored by technology has not being left unnoticed with heavy cash buzzing the news and unimaginable firm fixing major friction. Here are details of major companies in the IT space that have been most profitable.

OPERA

Renamed Otello Co-operation from Opera software, after a group of Chinese investors sought it purchase the firm for an amount of $600 million. The firm has since then expanded it base beyond browsing into more portfolio like Opay it fintech arm, Oride its logistics arm and opera news. Led by Yahui Zhou, the CEO is relentlessly looking for means to tap the wealth at the bottom of the pyramid, has its most positioned to tap the Benjamin's through its delivery network, Payment and ride-hail service. The brand has market capitalization of $1.239 billion making it the 3850^th most valuable company in the world.

Update: After raising cash from Softbank, the company's valuation has risen to $2 billion making it the most valued fintech in Nigeria overshadowing the a number of notable traditional banks in the country.

TRANSSION HOLDING

Founded year 2006 in Hong Kong, the company came to Nigeria in 2008 to service the market with its unique market offering of tailoring it product to the market. She has since then gained massive dominance with her variety of product which includes Techno, Infinix, Itel and just recent Oraimo which is mainly accessories. The firm gained fan-base when it launched its affordable multiple Sim card powered mobile device. The $23.4 billion dollars firm by market capitalization is led by George Zho. 

Although the firm may not offer a very superb product in terms of quality, the firm must be praised for it intense advertisement and good understanding of affordabiity.

STARTIMES

StarTimes Group was founded in 1988 by Chinese engineer Pang Xinxing.

Notable milestone are as follows:

In 2002, StarTimes began to expand its business to Africa. In 2007, it became the first digital television operator licensed by Rwanda. Since then, StarTimes has established subsidiaries in 30 African countries.

In June 2018, StarTimes launched ON, a video streaming service (OTT) giving access to dozens of channels in Africa.

In 2020, StarTimes e-shopping platform, StarTimes GO was launched. This interactive online shopping platform is supported by TV, Online and Phone call services and available across Africa.

 

Prediction:

In all, I would not be surprised if the Asian start an Insurance firm here as they more than any have a deep understanding of Nigeria.

It's expected that China Alibaba would buy up Jumia, Africa frontrunner e-commerce firm. It should be noted that whilst the company may be trading at 20.88 per unit shares (half it IPO's value) and have a <3bn Valuation, it has accumulated data, experience and insight which would be of great value in the hands of the right person and from all indication Chinese would fit much properly here. So, although a long term project, I believe it is a safe buy for someone with a lot of patience.