I read thisarticle several years ago, it talked about how Indian & Chinese technology was coming to Africa and helping improve quality of life and I’d assume economic growth. The argument was that Africa had much in common with rural India & China, and as a result there was a large domestic and foreign market in China & India, giving them incentive to invest in these techs (there is no domestic market for ultra low cost tech for extremely poor rural dwellers in the US by comparison).
However the only situation I personally know of of this is cell phones, I think Chinese companies set up much of the cell infrastructure in Africa and phones are now much more common than 15 years ago on the continent.
How has life changed in the last 10-15 years in various parts of Africa due to an influx of foreign tech (US tech included)? Is quality of life, health, education, leisure time, etc. different in any noticeable way on a large scale?
I know severalnations in Africa are seeing economic growth rates of 6%+, which is interesting and hopefully sustainable to reduce poverty in the area.
Is Africa seeing a tech renaissance? If so, what techs are there? I know cell phones have grown dramatically there. What about other tech like solar power, microhydro dams, laptops, tablets, medical advances, solar stoves, etc?
Absolutely. China produces an enormous amount of affordable stuff- from cheap plastic goods to tractors to medical equipment to factory components. People have access to a wider range of both consumer goods and higher tech equipment.
China also had enormous expertise in building affordable infrastructure quickly in tough locations. Addis Ababa is getting a Chinese light rail system. I used electricity from a Chinese dam.
Two factors are important to understand. One is that for many Chinese people, going to Africa isn’t as huge of a jump in living standards. If you send me to Africa, I am going to expect to stay in the Hilton, drive around in a Land Cruiser, and eat imported food-- driving up the costs of whatever. But if you send a Chinese middle class person, they are used to local quality hotels, treating their water before drinking it, etc. It’s not as huge a leap. For some, Africa even offers the opportunity to raise living standards.
Chinese businesses are also willing to work at a lower profit margin. Our businesses can pick and choose what kinds of projects we get involved in. But China got into the international trade game much later, and they have to tolerate more risk and less return. An American road builder isn’t going to bother going all the way to Zambia just to make a million dollars. But for a Chinese road builder, that can be a good deal.
The name “Africa” encompasses a massive area, of course. Technical advances have come to major population centers in African countries, but outside most of those cities people still live in relatively primitive conditions without electricity or running water. I was in Kampala, Uganda when they finally got dial-up Internet in 1997. The only people who actually had access to it were diplomats and very high-ranking officials. We went there from Bamako, Mali, where there was no connectivity.
Solar stoves: I’ve related this before, but it bears repeating. My local engineer employee in Bamako came from an outlying village. He had been able to go to - and graduate from - the University of Arizona as part of an exchange program. During his time there, he became well acquainted with solar ovens, and eagerly brought the idea back to his home country, which, if one is not familiar with Mali, is located in the Sahel region. The Sahel is on the southern edge of the Sahara and deforestation has led to desertification of the area. Cooking is traditionally done over cook fires, as electricity is non-existent in the villages. Unfortunately, firewood is a scarce commodity, so it would seem that a solar oven would be an ideal solution.
Amadou built a solar oven and took it to his village, where he was met with complete skepticism. In an attempt to sway opinion, he had the village chief assist him while he put a pot of food in the oven, and let it sit in the sun until the contents boiled. He then asked the chief to pick up the pot, which of course burned his hands. Despite being shown the advantages and efficacy of solar heat, the village decided that they preferred scavenging for bits of wood to burn and rejected the “new” technology.
The point of that story is that the introduction of technology and modern conveniences has to overcome suspicion and established culture before it can be meaningful or useful. No small task in that part of the world.
(Bolding mine) China wants to sell finished goods, and buy raw materials-they do not want to set up to make stuff in Africa-that would threaten their plants in China. herein lies the conundrum-Africa will always be a economic colony for China-so its people will be able to buy Chinese goods, as long as they have raw materials that China wants-what happens when the raw materials are all gone?
The one thing I’ve learned in this short life is that nobody wants a solar oven. They are a great idea. They make a lot of sense. But they’ve been tried everywhere literally a dozen times over, and for whatever reason they don’t stick*. It’s time to give up on that one.
*except in Tibet, where they are used to boil tea.
Actually they are sending business that way. Now that Chinese wages are rising, labor intensive industries like leather working are being outsourced by Chinese firms to cheaper countries.
China isn’t in Africa out of the goodness of their heart- they are there to do business. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and often it’s a positive. African countries are not helpless in this. They can and do set their own rules.
Weird, isn’t it? Cardboard, styrofoam, a bit of foil and either plexi or glass, all of which can be easily found almost anywhere. Cheap, efficient, and never runs out of fuel. It’s always puzzled me as to why it never catches on.
Exactly. The World Bank has noted (pdf) that infrastructure improvements by Chinese firms have made significant improvements to economic growth in several countries. Here is another article suggesting that concerns of colonialism are overstated.
China has quite a large presence here but most citizens have seen little or no benefit. Angola significant mineral wealth but much of it is in the eastern provinces, far away from the export centers on the coast. As it does with many other developing countries, China provides low interest loans in exchange for access to resources. China is by no means unique in employing this strategy but it does it on a far larger scale with countries like Angola.
Working with well connected members of the government and other wealthy Angolans China has brought in laborers to built roads, a rail line, and port facilities and other major projects. Very few jobs, particularly those that would normally would be plentiful for the laborers, are going to the Chinese to instead of the the Angolans.
The impact on the middle class has not been as dramatic as advertised. One notable example is Nova Cidade de Kilamba a residential development of 750 eight-story apartment buildings, a dozen schools, and more than 100 retail units. Built several years just south of Luanda it was a huge project financed in the usual manner - oil based loans to China using Chinese labor. At the moment, it is mostly empty since they cost between $150,000 to $250,000 per unit, which puts well beyond the reach of even the middle class Angolans.
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cost between $150,000 to $250,000 per unit, which puts well beyond the reach of even the middle class Angolans.
Ghost cities in Angola? Imagine these units-never used and rotting away. what a waste.