Infrastructure, energy and agriculture. Supply chains look to Africa

First warning to sailors: get the stereotype of the 'exotic or complex market' out of your head. "Africa - or rather, the many different African countries - are markets like any other, except that we Europeans have less knowledge and less familiarity with this area of the world, so we need to study and prepare a little more". Massimo Zaurrini, journalist and editor of 'Africa e Affari/InfoAfrica' introduced his economic analysis of the African continent in this way during the event 'Doing business in Africa' organised at the end of September by Confindustria Lombardia, as part of the Enterprise Europe Network activities.

A meeting to learn more about a vast territory considered by many to be the next Eldorado, but above all to assess the concrete development opportunities for Lombardy companies, in the wake of the Mattei Plan launched by the Meloni government. Opportunities made all the more necessary by the need to diversify markets following the introduction of trade tariffs in the US imposed by Donald Trump's presidency.

The second aspect emphasised by Zaurrini is that African economies, like the global economy as a whole, have slowed down due to wars, geopolitical tensions and protectionist measures. Nevertheless, the continent as a whole continues to grow at a higher rate than the global average, even if growth is not uniform. East Africa, for example, is the most dynamic area, while the North is more affected by the trade crisis following the conflict between Israel and Palestine. And then there are the different countries, with South Africa suffering more from the effect of US tariffs, others such as Nigeria slowing down due to the oil & gas crisis, while nations such as Senegal and the Ivory Coast, but also Kenya and Tanzania, are holding up better thanks to diversified economies.

Having said all this, it became clear during the conference that this rapid expansion of Africa offers several opportunities for Italian companies and Lombardy in particular, given the nature of the production sectors most directly involved in the Mattei Plan strategy. "Lombardy's companies are ready to deploy their experience and vocation for internationalisation," confirmed the president of Giovani Industriali Confindustria Lombardia, Jacopo Moschini, in his speech, recalling that Lombardy is the leading Italian region in terms of exports (with almost 164 billion euros in 2024, 26.2% of the national total) and the leading manufacturing region in Europe. The share of turnover achieved on foreign markets in 2024 by our internationalised companies is 44.7%, and is expected to further expand to 45.2% in 2025.

"Given this high international vocation, as well as the heterogeneous composition of the regional production chains, there are many production sectors in which Lombardy companies can offer their know-how and experience to their counterparts in African countries," Moschini added. "In particular, infrastructure and construction, machine tools, electronics and robotics, renewable energy, water treatment and distribution technologies, waste management solutions, and agri-food. For Confindustria Lombardy, the right strategic approach to put the Mattei Plan on the ground with the maximum involvement and benefit for Italian companies is to decline the Mattei Plan into bilateral agreements with the individual African countries involved, in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which aims to facilitate trade between African countries by eliminating 90% of customs tariffs.