Africa Offers Great Opportunities for SME Growth – DHL

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa have an abundance of opportunities to tap from, said Charles Brewer, Managing Director of DHL Express, in a statement. Brewer added that SMEs are clearly the growth engine for Africa and the critical driver for sustainable economic growth. Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to be slightly higher in 2014 than that of 2013, at around 6 percent, a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has shown. This growth, coupled with the more than one billion consumers on the continent who spend $600 billion annually, as well as having the fastest growing middle class in the world, provides African small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with boundless opportunities in 2014. “According to Deloitte, Africa’s middle class has tripled over the last 30 years, and the current trajectory suggests that the African middle class will grow to 1.1 billion in 2060. As African economies are some of the fastest growing in the world, the outlook for the continent is very positive going forward.” “Manufacturing, on a large scale, is still somewhat embryonic in Africa and as such, there is a definite opportunity for SMEs to fill the gaps which are not being serviced by these large global companies. As important, a growing SME base will create hundreds and thousands of new jobs, which is an absolute must for this ever growing continent.”