about Made in Afrika
Africa is a continent rich in resources. Its richest resource, beyond oil, metals and other minerals, are its people.
With more than one billion mainly young women and men the continent has abundant talent and economic opportunity. On that basis it can become a serious competitor for China and other Asian countries.
The Made in Afrika project (MiA) looks at social, political and economic developments in a select number of countries on the continent, with a special focus on Ethiopia.
In Addis Abeba, an ambitious government led by new prime minister Abiy Ahmed, the Nobel peace prize winner of 2019, works to attract large foreign investments to develop export-oriented light manufacturing and agro-industry that can employ millions of young Ethiopians.
The Ethiopians aim to tohave their own version of an Asian development approach in the Horn of Africa -a bold ambition. If it works out more or less as planned, it may become a model for economic and social regeneration in sub-Saharan Africa. Ethiopia wants to become a lower middle income country by 2025.
Via on-the-ground reporting MiA takes a closer look at the Ethiopian approach and its pitfalls. Comparisons are made with industrial development in Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Phase one of project Made in Afrika has resulted in a book, Made in Afrika, published in 2018 by Lias Publishers in Hilversum, The Netherlands. Content of the project have been used by European and African media.
The first phase of the MiA project was supported by a grant from the Innovation in Development Reporting Programme of the European Journalism Centre and the Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation. These institutions have had no say whatsoever in the content of the stories.
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about the author
Hans Gerard Moleman worked as a foreign correspondent in Africa and China for fifteen years.
While based in Johannesburg from 1997 till 2004, he witnessed African companies and workers struggle with new competition from a rising China.
In Shanghai, from 2004 till 2012, he was a witness of rapidly rising Chinese labour costs. Both Chinese and multinational companies are scouting other locations for low cost production -mostly in Asia, but some are also looking at Africa.
Which African countries will be able to make use of that?
Ethiopia, with Africa's second largest population, has plans to copy China. With plenty of challenges, will it eventually succeed in becoming a more peaceful and prosperous nation -and a model for others on the continent?
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Before moving to Africa and Asia, Hans worked at the economics desk and as reporter at large for the Volkskrant newspaper in Amsterdam and Dutch national news agency ANP.
He has written two books. De Rode Miljardair, about the rise of Jack Ma and his internet company Alibaba (Lias Publishers, 2015), and Avonturen in modern China, a collection of stories published by the Volkskrant in 2005.
In 2012 he moved back to Europe with his partner in life and work Petra Quaedvlieg, their daughter Maxine -and a sweet Chinese streetdog, Xiaohe. From Maastricht they now work on local and international projects.