Release date: June 17, 2021
Speakers: Andrew S. Nevin (PwC Nigeria) and Shashank Tripathi (PwC India)
Description: We are all aware of the rapid economic transformation of China, which had not one single private sector car in 1983, and by 2008 was the largest producer and the largest market for automobiles, and is now the world’s largest economy in terms of PPP. And we are all aware of the intense political and economic rivalry between the US and China at the moment, the trajectory of which remains unknown.
But our political and economic landscape is much more complex than this. In this Strategy Imagination Forum, we hear from Andrew S. Nevin, PwC Nigeria, and Shashank Tripathi, PwC India– two leading Strategy practitioners and nation builders– about the economic and business implications of the rise of India and Africa. While this story is starting to be understood, these practitioners will argue that the transformation of India and Africa should be on the radar of the entire SMS community, as this transformation will be every bit as profound as the rise of China in the last 3 decades.
Several key points will be highlighted in this fireside chat-style session. First, the pace of the demographic shift staggering – in 2020, 65 million babies were born in Africa and India, 10m in China, 5m in Europe, and 3.6m in the USA. Second, India and Africa are forging new development paths that will be unlike the strategic focus on increasing value-add in manufacturing supply chains that underpinned development in Korea, China, Viet Nam, and other emerging economies. In Africa and India, the concept of leapfrogging is alive and well, and the combination of the increasing economic weight of services and new technologies is creating some intriguing new growth paths. Finally, India and Africa are natural economic and political allies and the emergence of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) has the potential to create some real shifts in global trade and investment relationships. Taken together, these developments have important implications for firms operating in these contexts.