Dakar — A lack of investment in science is stunting Africa’s growth, driving engineers, researchers and scientists abroad and depriving the continent of billions of dollars each year, the founder of a landmark conference said on Thursday.
Africa loses $4 billion a year by outsourcing jobs in science, technology, engineering and maths, the so-called STEM fields, to foreign professionals, said Thierry Zomahoun, chairman and founder of the Next Einstein Forum (NEF).
Most scientists and engineers who train in Africa work abroad because of the continent’s limited opportunities and resources, he said, noting that Africa accounts for only one percent of global scientific research.
“There are still a lot of scientists across Africa, but they have been made invisible by a lack of development and investment,” Zomahoun said on the sidelines of the NEF Global Gathering – Africa’s first global science and technology forum.
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How Foreign Investments In Africa Create A New Young Wealthy Class
Entrepreneurship, innovations and investments from North America, Europe, China and the Gulf are increasing the population of super wealthy individuals in Africa faster than the global average, according to the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2016.
The proportion of super rich Africans is expected to increase by 54 percent from 2015 to 2025 compared to the global average of 41 percent in the same period, ShanghaiDaily reported.
An ultra high net worth individual is defined as having investable assets of $30 million plus. Here’s how the classes break down, according to Investopedia:
The high net worth “club” is $1 million in liquid financial assets. An investor with less than $1 million but more than $100,000 is considered to be “affluent”, or perhaps even “sub-HNWI”. The upper end of HNWI is around $5 million, at which point the client is then referred to as “very HNWI”. More than $50 million in wealth classifies a person as “ultra HNWI”.
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Chinese Investment Boosts Africa’s Property Market
Peter Welborn, Africa chairman of global real estate consultancy Knight Frank, told Xinhua in Nairobi that in some Africa countries such as Tanzania, there has been a lowering of office rent as a direct result of Chinese built commercial and residential houses.
“Chinese investors have increased the supply of buildings and hence reduced the prices for rent,” Welborn said during the launch of the firm’s Wealth Report 2016.
Welborn said Africans prefer to work with foreign investors who believe in the continent’s future.
“The Chinese have been preemptive in believing in Africa and that’s why they have been successful in the real estate sector,” he said, adding that the typical model that Chinese investors use is to partner with local investors.
“The Chinese provide the funds while the local partner provides the land. In this way, under-developed land is developed to create modern commercial and residential buildings,” he said.
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Einstein forum aims to stem Africa brain drain
Africa’s top scientists, policymakers and start-ups have gathered for a landmark conference aimed at stemming the continent’s brain drain and encouraging governments to nurture research in fields from virology to maths.
The organisers of the first Next Einstein Forum (NEF), concluding on Thursday near Senegal’s capital, Dakar, hope to reverse a situation in which Africa’s brightest talent feels compelled to move outside the continent to work at the cutting edge of research – and earn a decent salary.
“There are more African engineers working in the United States than in Africa,” organiser Thierry Zomahoun, chief executive of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, told an audience drawn from more than 100 different countries.
At least 17 Einstein Forum fellows, as well as young researchers from across the continent, shared their innovations with top policymakers, business leaders and academics.
One of them is Senegalese mathematician Mouhamed Moustapha Fall.
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Africa Must Spend More On Science Research to Halt Brain Drain, Lift Growth – Scientists
Africa loses $4 billion a year by outsourcing jobs in science, technology, engineering and maths, the so-called STEM fields, to foreign professionals, said Thierry Zomahoun, chairman and founder of the Next Einstein Forum (NEF).
Most scientists and engineers who train in Africa work abroad because of the continent’s limited opportunities and resources, he said, noting that Africa accounts for only one percent of global scientific research.
“There are still a lot of scientists across Africa, but they have been made invisible by a lack of development and investment,” Zomahoun said on the sidelines of the NEF Global Gathering – Africa’s first global science and technology forum.
Source