In Brief
What’s Happening
Pushed out of China by rising costs, manufacturing entrepreneurs are increasingly investing in higher-margin business models in Africa.
Why It Matters
If the trend continues, Africa could become the world’s next great manufacturing center, taking that role over from China itself.
What It Could Deliver
Such an industrial revolution could lead to 100 million jobs, a new pool of globally competitive manufacturing companies, and the elimination of extreme poverty in Africa.
In a low-slung office building at his giant ceramics factory in southwestern Nigeria, Sun Jian insisted that we have tea. He had just returned from a trip to China, and he had a batch of top-quality tea he wanted to share with visitors, in an age-old gesture of Chinese hospitality.
A version of this article appeared in the May–June 2017 issue (pp.122–129) of Harvard Business Review.
