Analytical commentary on African political economy, infrastructure, trade policy, and corporate strategy.
South Africa holds R7 trillion in retirement assets yet invests just 15% of GDP. The missing piece is not capital or willingness — it is the institutional layer that turns savings into investable assets.
The conventional diagnosis of South Africa's infrastructure crisis points to a shortage of capital. The evidence points elsewhere — to a failure of coordination between the institutions that plan, fund, procure, and build.
The African Continental Free Trade Area is real, but the story being told about its implications for industrial investment is running well ahead of the structural evidence.
Standard competitive strategy frameworks assume markets. In emerging economies, the more consequential competitive advantages are often won or lost outside them.
The global competition for critical minerals has created a structural opportunity for African resource states. Whether that opportunity becomes leverage depends on choices that most of those states have not yet made.