Challenges of Industrial Growth in Africa: Searching for New Opportunities

Industry is a key factor in the structural shifts in the economy that are necessary for enhancing the economic development in African countries. In the rapidly changing global landscape, industrialization, mainly focused on developing the domestic market, is once again becoming the primary way to overcome the growing lagging behind of African countries. This aligns with the essence of Goal 9 (“Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”) of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the main directions of the industrialization strategy outlined in Goal 4 (“Transforming the economy”) of the “Agenda 2063,” developed by the African Union (AU) in accordance with the contemporary challenges of strengthening the economies of Africa’s countries. The lack of significant results in establishing an industrial base in most of them, after three declared decades of industrial development for Africa by the UN (Industrial Development Decade for Africa: 1980–1990, 1993–2002, 2016–2025), requires a certain revision of commonly accepted models of industrialization, as well as increasing state support for the implementation of the most promising among them. Based on the analysis of classical models of industrialization, as well as programs and actual results of the manufacturing industry development in Africa, the authors of the article propose an assessment of African countries’ industrial potential and the possibilities for them to implement innovative technologies, as well as the creation of production clusters (special economic zones), including through the expansion of cooperation with Russia in the field of modernization of existing and construction of new industrial facilities, primarily in high-tech sectors of the manufacturing industry.