Top 5 things to remember before investing in Africa

Are you thinking of expanding your business to Africa?, do you need guide in finding the right partners for your business?, or are you a business owner thinking of investing in Africa just to yield more profits?, if  yes, then this is for you. Africa is now home to more international private firms. This is due to the increasing adoption of relevant business policies, lowered corporate taxes, and strengthened regulatory and legal systems in some if not all African countries.
According to The World Bank Group article “Doing Business 2014: Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises” released in October 2013 reported that sub-Saharan Africa continues to record a large number of reforms aimed at easing the regulatory burden on local entrepreneurs, with 66 reforms adopted in the past year (June 2, 2012 – June 1, 2013). And not just that, out of the 189 nations surveyed globally, 18 African economies made the top 50 most reformed economies while Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire, and Burundi are among the global top 10 improvers in making the biggest improvement in business regulations. Therefore Doing business in Africa is now easier so if you are thinking of investing in Africa, here are the tips to remember as a guidance.
1. Booming African continent
Africa has been the second-fastest-growing region in the world over the past 10 years, with average annual growth of 5.1 per cent over the past decade, driven by greater political stability and economic reforms that have unleashed the private sector in many countries. This gave rise to a new consuming class: from the year 2000, 31 million African households have joined the world's consuming class. The continent now has around 90 million people who fit this definition. That figure is projected to reach 128 million by 2020.
2. African Labor force now has more Educated workers
Nowadays, more than  40 per cent of Africans have some secondary or tertiary education. By 2020, it will be nearly half. But African countries still need further progress to remain economically competitive.
3.  In availability of constant greener pastures in Africa
 From report, only 28 per cent of Africans have stable, wage-paying jobs. To reap the benefits of its positive demographics and advancements in education, Africa needs to quickly create more jobs. Although it has created 37 million stable, wage-paying jobs over the past decade, 91 million people have been added to its labour force. As a result, 9 per cent of the workforce is officially unemployed, and nearly two thirds of workers sustain themselves through subsistence activities and low-wage self-employment, therefore Youth unemployment is also a major challenge. For the sake of social and political stability, Africa needs to accelerate its creation of stable jobs.
4.  Massive job growth in Africa
Creation of stable jobs would lift millions more Africans out of poverty and put millions of others Africans into the consuming class. It would also cut the time needed to reach East Asia's percentage of stable employment by more than half, from over 50 years to just 20 years.
Africa's most developed economies, such as South Africa, Morocco, Nigeria and Egypt, are on track to create more wage-paying jobs than new entrants to the workforce.
 5. Africans value foreign goods more than those made at home
African manufacturing is declining as a share in most economies, and that needs to stop. Africa is on course to generate 8 million new manufacturing jobs by 2020 but could nearly double that tally if it can reverse this trend. High transportation and input costs, duties and bureaucracy are some of the obstacles that have hindered African manufacturing. The continent needs to open itself up to foreign investment too.