PAMA Editorial: A New Era of Collaboration for African Manufacturing

Across the continent, we are witnessing a renewed focus on improving infrastructure, strengthening supply chains, and building partnerships—key pillars for advancing manufacturing in Africa. In this PAMA Editorial: A New Era of Collaboration for African Manufacturing the association highlights their impactful advocacy efforts that are helping to shape this progress and call for collective, practical steps needed to drive sustainable industrial growth across the region.

➢ Strengthening industrial synergies: PAMA pays courtesy visit to Dangote Industries Limited.

The recent courtesy visit by PAMA to Dangote Industries Limited was not merely symbolic—it was a strong reaffirmation of our belief in industrial integration, strategic alliances, and the power of African industrial champions to anchor sustainable industrial transformation. As Alhaji Aliko Dangote rightly stated during the visit, “Africa’s future depends on what we produce, how we trade, and how we collaborate.” This sentiment resonates deeply as we navigate the challenges and opportunities to fully integrate Africa into global value chains while strengthening intra-African trade.

➢ Africa in the Global Value Chains: Challenges and Pathways

Industrial transformation-enabled Global value Chains (GVCs) mean moving beyond extractive economies toward extensive value-added production, transitioning from simply supplying raw materials to owning and advancing through the value chain. It’s about producing components, assembling finished goods, and building the systems in between. In this edition, we explore Africa’s marginal role in GVCs, dominated by low-value raw material exports, which demand urgent reform.

The current situation is a sobering reality. AfCFTA and African Commodities Strategy offer pathways to enhance manufacturing and Africa’s full GVC integration through regional infrastructure and clusters, harmonized standards, and increased R&D. With cost reducing trade logistics and strategic regional hubs, Africa can plug into global demand more competitively.

➢ WAEMU Just Got Hotter for Infrastructure Investors

Infrastructure is the bloodstream of industry. The recent partnership between Africa50 and the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM) to develop project bonds is a bold innovation in infrastructure financing. It opens the door for regional pension funds, insurance firms, and private investors to back energy, transport, and logistics projects that will directly benefit manufacturers across the WAEMU bloc.

For African manufacturers, this means lower logistics costs, more reliable utilities, and an expanded market, especially in hard-to-reach regions. Infrastructure finance is no longer just a government affair; it’s now a continental business imperative.

➢ Spotlight: African Industrial Champions Rising

This edition celebrates the dynamism of selected Africa’s manufacturing industries:

• Dangote Industries Limited is positioning Nigeria and Africa as a global polypropylene exporter.
• Spiro and Innoson Vehicles are pioneering localized automotive and electric mobility solutions.
• Morrocco’s OCP Group and Nigeria’s Dangote Industries Limited are driving backward integration through agro-development in Africa and beyond.
• Pink Mango Factory in Rwanda and METL Group in Tanzania showcase how “Made in Africa” can compete globally.

Their successes prove that with the right policies and financing, African manufacturers can dominate global value chains.

➢ Mapping Opportunities for Growth, Value Addition and Investment

Our curated industry snapshot identifies selected promising manufacturing sectors based on CAGR, investor appetite, and regional readiness. From EV manufacturing in Morocco and South Africa, to fertilizer and petrochemicals in Nigeria and Egypt, to agro-processing across East and West Africa, the message is clear: Africa is investable.

We urge governments, DFIs, and private investors to use this intelligence to act fast and collaboratively. The continent’s industrial window is wide open, but not indefinitely.

As we look ahead, PAMA reaffirms its commitment to shaping a continent that not only trades in value but also adds value at home. From industrial advocacy to investment promotion, we are building the foundation for a globally competitive, locally integrated, and continentally coordinated African manufacturing ecosystem.

—Editorial Board, PAMA Manufacturing Global News Bulletin