Contemplating COVID-19's Impact on Africa's Economic Outlook with Landry Signé & Iginio Gagliardone

African Tech Roundup

Professor and Founding Co-Director of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Globalization 4.0 at Thunderbird School of Global Management Landry Signé joins Andile Masuku and guest co-host Iginio Gagliardone for a heartfelt discussion about how the COVID-19 crisis might alter Africa's economic growth trajectory. Landry is a Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution and his passionate perspectives about the merits of democracy feature heavily in this episode. His views are coloured, in part, by the live policy-making exposure he's gleaned during advisory assignments such as serving on the Global Network on Digital Technologies for Sustainable Urbanization at the appointment of a United Nations Under Secretary-General. Using Landry's new book "Unlocking Africa's Business Potential: Trends, Opportunities, Risks, and Strategies" as a springboard for the conversation, the trio interrogates some of the speculation influencing Africa's collective response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Listen in to learn why, despite what's going on right now, Landry is standing by the bullish notions outlined in his book— views which, for the most part, Iginio buys into given the positive progress points the continent was posting before the whole COVID-19 nightmare set in. Questions discussed in this episode include: 1) What immediately pops into Landry, Iginio and Andile's heads when they hear ‘Covid-19 and Africa?' [08:34] 2) In light of what is happening in his native Italy, what does Iginio view as key learning points for South Africa, where he is currently based? [18:45] 3) How should 'expert' projections shape Africa's political and economic response to Covid-19? [22:36] 4) Landry unpacks insights from his new book, Unlocking Africa’s Business Potential: Trends, opportunities, risks and strategies. [42:11] 5) Why would anybody consider Africa's population growth trajectory as anything but a good thing? [43:52] 6) How might Africa position to become more competitive in the global economy? [45:30] 7) Is Landry as bullish on Africa’s potential now as he was before the COVID-19 pandemic hit? [49:10] 8) Why might Africans do well to be cautiously optimistic about the continent's recovery prospects? [51:00] 9) What does Landry see as Africa's top unique selling propositions? [58:59] 10) Apart from the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, what other evidence might there be of increased regional trade cooperation in Africa? [1:08:05] Image credit: Nick Romanov