Africa is already building its future

There is a familiar way of talking about Africa in global investment circles.

A young population. Vast natural resources. Rapid urbanisation. Huge infrastructure needs. A growing consumer market. All of this is true. But it is also an incomplete picture.

Africa is no longer simply a story about what might happen in the future. Some of the most interesting investment stories are already happening.

Look at what is happening in Lagos.

The Dangote refinery is one of the largest industrial investments ever made in Africa. The more than $20 billion project has a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day and is changing Nigeria’s position in the refined petroleum market. It is also the world’s largest single-train refinery.

Its significance became particularly clear this year when it emerged as Europe’s largest external supplier of jet fuel in June and July, overtaking the United States.

Think about that for a moment. A refinery built in Lagos with African private capital is supplying one of the world’s most sophisticated aviation markets. That is an African industrial investment competing in a global market.

There is something important happening here. African companies are beginning to deploy capital at scale and, increasingly, across borders. They are building businesses around regional and global markets rather than stopping at national boundaries. That is a different Africa from the one often presented in investment conversations.

There is another example that illustrates this even more personally.

I arrived in the UK this summer and needed to send some money to my daughters. In Kenya, this is something I do almost without thinking. I open the M-PESA app, select their numbers, enter the amount and send it. They are teenagers, and I can send them money whenever I need to,…