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The year 2019 has ended on a hopeful note for Africa which is once again on the list of the areas with cost-efficient investment. This is at least what we can remember from the traditional annual report of the most attractive countries to invest in « Where to invest in Africa » initiated by the South African financial group Rand Merchant Bank. They have just published their 9th edition in which the focus is on the most attractive African countries where to invest in, in 2020. Usually in every edition, we find the same countries with the most appealing economies on the top ten. We will go over the list of cost-efficient countries in 2020.

1. Egypt 

For the third consecutive year, Egypt can brag about being the most appealing economy in the 9th edition of that report. The country has the advantage of having an important demographic market and is still one of the most favorite places for investors. So according to the author of the report, “it’s the third year at the top of our ranking. For the past three years, Egypt has made significant strides in changing their business environment, improving external investment into the market and growing their own industries ». « They also took the difficult decision a few years ago to devalue their currency to be more reflective of what’s happening in the market. Even though these were tough decisions, in the long run it will help with structural changes in the economy. We are also expecting an approximate 5.3% growth rate for the next five years. This is well above the 4% average expected for the rest of Africa.”, they specified.

2. Morocco

Morocco comes second after Egypt on the list of most cost-efficient countries for investment in 2020. The Sharif kingdom is currently developing and should record an average growth of 4% in the next coming years. “iIts reintegration into the African Union and accession to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have enhanced its investment appeal”, says the report.

3. South Africa

South Africa falls down and trades places with Morocco. In the report the country settles for the third place with a “cyclical downturn”, “poor growth” and “a deteriorated business environment”. However, the country remains an economy with a liquid financial market compared to the other countries in the continent.

“It is definitely still the most liquid market in Africa. We’ve spoken to many international clients and South Africa is still the springboard for investment into Africa. But we have to see structural reforms being implemented, specifically at our state-owned enterprises. These changes can easily put us back into the number one spot over the next few years.” said Celeste Fauconnier.

4. Kenya

Kenya joins the exclusive list of high cost-efficient countries in 2020. We expect a 5 percent middle term growth rate this year. The country has “favourable weather conditions”in a more pacified political environment”. The economy benefits from diversity as well as a sustained expansion in consumer demand. It also benefits from urbanisation, East African Community (EAC) integration, structural reforms and investment in infrastructure, including an oil pipeline, railways, ports etc.”

5. Rwanda

Finally, Rwanda holds the 5th place on that selected report. The country was pushed by a very favorable business environment as mentioned in the last Doing Business. The report also praises the development of domestic industries and a high increase in FDI (foreign direct investment).

Like we always say unity is strength. This saying happens to be also true within work relationships where a smart collaboration between team workers is key to the success of any project of any kind. A joined interaction between workers constitutes the basis of a better performance and a good environment in the company. Unfortunately not all managers have the luxury to work with a united team capable of collaborating in perfect harmony.

Team work obstacles within the company?

According to a study conducted by Harris Interactive/Apec published in the Capital, 22% of employees say that they don’t like working in teams. A mismatch of personalities, not knowing the skills that the other people have, and the belief that keeping an information to ourself is an asset, are the main obstacles that keep workers from working with each other. However it does not give an excuse to the manager to not do anything to make workers add the sense of team spirit to their values. There are many existing solutions to encourage teamwork in a company.

Make a example out of you thanks to your attitude

If you want to encourage team spirit in your company, as a manager you need to make an example out of yourself. You need to be able to create direct connections with your employees to make it easier to have good communication within the company. Creating direct connections with your team workers means being open-minded so much that it would be contagious. You can, for example, make it easier to have access to your office by letting the door open for discussions to show that you are available and you are all ears. Try not to keep yourself away from your employees. Show yourself by walking down the office for example. You should also insert in your planing a weekly get together with your colleagues to give them an opportunity to talk about how they feel and what is bothering them. This approach will allow you to show your employees the positive result of the transmission of an information.

Set up interconnection tools 

It’s not about the simple fact of telling your team workers about managing to create a good collaboration between them. Obviously, You will need to invest in technological means that will make it easier for employees to share with each others. It is therefore essential to set up tools and spaces for collaborative work. It will allow the employee to directly express his difficulties so he can get help from everybody.

Interconnection tools also allow for a team member to share a document he produced. The other members of the team will be able also to give their opinions and constructive criticism that would only help improving the performances. That way a genuine collaborative work would be set up.

Finally, if you want to boost the sense of teamwork with your coworkers, find a grading system based on the collective and not on the individual. It is more relevant knowing that the individual score does not really help the collaborative work. Hence, setting up collective criterion will highly encourage the team spirit.

Either way, you must keep in mind that the cultivation of the sense of team spirit in a company is not an easy task and is something that is done on a daily basis. It is a tremendous load of work.

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