By Daan Marks, advisor to the Dutch Executive Director at the World Bank

Traveling always makes me reflect on my life and surroundings. When I travel to Belgium (which is not too often), I realize that the Dutch transportation system is actually pretty good. Now that I live in the US, I have come to realize how efficient the Dutch public sector actually is. Last September I traveled to Senegal and Ghana and it made me realize how privileged I am to have a toilet. It is just a different dimension. The face of extreme poverty, and inequality, is obviously confronting. It is also frustrating to see that mismanagement and corruption put a halt on much needed social and economic development.

The economic perspective

Recent GDP figures show that the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa are generally on the rise (or ‘Africa rising’, as some have dubbed it). I think this picture is somewhat misleading. Given the very low starting point and rampant population growth, African countries need these high growth rates to raise living standards above subsistence levels, while absorbing the growing labor force. My guess is that GDP per capita growth is much less impressive, and that figures on GDP per worker do not show significant productivity growth. Simultaneously, the challenges remain immense: poverty figures are still shockingly high in many countries, the outbreak of Ebola shows the lack of capacity in the poorest countries, conflict and fragility continue to hamper economic development in Mali, Central African Republic and South Sudan and uneven growth and therefore rising inequality are leading to increased social instability.

My trip to Senegal and Ghana confirmed my previously stated view. While staying at a beautiful hotel and listening to flashy presentations about investment opportunities, the reality in the street is different: unpaved roads, rattling taxis, unreliable electricity supply and a dominant informal sector.

So what is needed to lift these countries out of poverty and ultimately bring them on a path to sustainable growth? A strategic direction that multiple countries are taking is to focus on infrastructure projects. Senegal is going down this path quite actively. Aiming to be the regional hub, Senegal has almost finished a new airport, where they will be able to land an A380! A toll road has already been built to link the airport to the city of Dakar. They also have plans in the pipeline to build a tramway from the airport to the city and a new port. Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have similar aspirations.

My Trip

The mission I joined to Senegal and Ghana consisted of companies and so-called private sector liaison officers (PSLO), who are the bridge between the World Bank and the private sector – in the Netherlands this role is played by RVO and the Netherlands Embassy in Washington DC. The purpose of the trip was to speak to government officials, World Bank (and other MDBs) staff, and see for ourselves how project in the countries are designed and implemented.

Participants came mainly from Spain, Canada and France, countries that, perhaps not surprisingly, are also the countries that win relatively many tenders financed by IFIs. Canada and Spain were also represented by their people from the embassy working on economic diplomacy. It seems that they are rather aggressive and pro-active in working for the interest of their business community.

What did I learn about opportunities for private companies? If a company wants to be successful and win World Bank financed tenders it needs to be persistent, focused and have local presence. At the same time, economic diplomacy significantly increases the chances.

Some other observations:

• One participant told me that you need at least 3 years (with a lot of traveling) to build a network, explore opportunities, and establish partnerships. This is indeed quite an investment, but there are no quick wins.
• A representative from the University of Alberta was traveling all over Africa to establish partnerships: attracting students to study in Canada, but also giving training to for example mining companies, etc. So education as an export product.
• Another participant said that they were not interested to bid for World Bank projects. Given that they are a medium sized company they rather work as a subcontractor. Still, knowing the context and having a good network are vital to being part of such a partnership.

My advice: go local. Not only does it enhance your chances of your company to win contracts, it also makes you a richer person.