Rendeavour's Founder & CEO Highlights Africa's Demographic Dividend at 'Meet Africa's Business Leaders' Reception

Last week, at the company's bi-annual 'Meet Africa’s Business Leaders’ networking reception in London, attended by over 120 distinguished guests, Rendeavour Founder & CEO, Stephen Jennings , shared his insights on the state of business in Africa. While he presented a realistic view of the challenges, he offered many reasons for great optimism including:

• A wave of dynamic Chinese entrepreneurs investing in Africa as exemplified by Zhende Medical, a leading surgical garment manufacturer at Tatu City , Kenya, which is set to employ 7,000 Kenyans in the coming months.
• Africa’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector which is rapidly expanding across the continent illustrated by CCI Global 's new 5,000-person contact centre at Tatu City.
• Software development: Africa is emerging as a hub for software engineering, with leading companies looking for opportunities to tap local talent and address local and global demand. There are already upwards of a thousand developers working at leading software development companies in Rendeavour’s cities across Africa.

As a result, Africa’s growth rate will easily outstrip the global rate in each of the next five years and, by 2028, will be the fastest-growing region in the world, outpacing Asia at 4.4% GDP growth (IMF).

Driving much of this growth is Africa’s youthful labour force relative to the ageing global population. Africa is already by far the youngest continent in the world with a median age of 18.8 years. By 2050, Africa will account for one-quarter of the global labour force and over 40% by 2100.?

This demographic shift is creating a huge opportunity for Africa, and Stephen reaffirmed Rendeavour's unwavering commitment to creating hundreds of thousands of quality jobs for Africans within and around our cities over the next decade. "By providing secure and predictable environments, first-class infrastructure, tax incentives, and mixed-use functionality, we ensure an unparalleled ease of doing business and major opportunities for job creation in our cities," said Jennings.?

But there's still much work to be done. As Stephen stated, the scale of challenges in Africa demands collaboration and unconventional forms of cooperation. "Let's unite and work together to ensure the world benefits from Africa as one of the most vibrant and promising regions on the planet for both living and doing business," he added.

Rendeavour is Africa's largest new city builder, with a development portfolio which includes more than 30,000 acres (12,000 ha) of land in the urban growth trajectories of major cities in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This month's event was graciously hosted by 富而德律师事务所 with remarks from Andrew Murphy and Absa Group 's Cheryl Buss . Please look out for Rendeavour's next 'Meet Africa’s Business Leaders' reception in September this year. In the meantime, please let us know how we can help with your Africa expansion plans.

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