Johannesburg, 26 March 2025 - The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) together with the DSI/NRF South African Research Chair in Industrial Development (SARChI-ID) at the University of Johannesburg and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) co-organized a joint event titled ‘The Future of Industrial Development in Africa’ in Johannesburg on 26 March 2025.  The event served as the regional launch for Africa of UNIDO’s Industrial Development Report (IDR) 2024.    

In his opening remarks, Nelson Muffuh, UN Resident Coordinator in South Africa, stated that industrialization is not only about boosting production and economic growth, but also a key driver of the SDGs, with widespread spillover effects on socio-economic outcomes such as job creation, fostering innovation, and reducing poverty and inequality. He then highlighted three key opportunities to unlock structural transformation in Africa: leveraging emerging green industries; expanding manufacturing industries by meeting growing markets through the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA); and increasing investments in cross border infrastructure to develop regional value chains. 

Diego Masera, UNIDO Representative for Southern Africa, echoed industrial policy’s transformative capacity to align a country’s economic development with sustainability, and social inclusion targets. He stated, “industrial policy is not a static concept but an evolving one, requiring continuous adaptation to technological advances, global market shifts and emerging social and environmental concerns.” With the right policies in place, Africa’s growing youth population can become a powerful engine for industrial transformation. Investing in skills development, innovation systems and regional integration, therefore, will be crucial for Africa’s sustainable industrial development. 

After short presentations of the main findings and messages from the Industrial Development Report delivered by Alejandro Lavopa (UNIDO) and Fiona Tregenna (SARChI-ID - University of Johannesburg), four policymakers and experts from the region were invited to present their own experiences and discuss how forward-looking industrial policy can support structural transformation for SDG acceleration.

Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, Special Advisor to the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) President on Industrialization, highlighted the importance of targeting rural and informal sectors of the economy to address SDGs 1 and 2 (food security, hunger and poverty) by directing strategic investment into the development of agribusiness and increasing access to finance for the youth. He underscored the significance of prioritizing industrialization in Africa and alerted against recent voices suggesting that industrialization can be bypassed in the continent. Strategic actions that tie manufacturing to structural transformation and target increasing production and trade within Africa will be key to addressing poverty in the region.

Phyllis Wakiaga, Lead of Industry & Commerce at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, elaborated on the need for collaborative policymaking in which private sector actively participates in the design and implementation of industrial policy. The private sector brings market information and knowledge as well as the necessary capital to ground and implement industrial policies, while the government brings the long-term strategic planning and the alignment of different actors towards the national vision. Institutionalizing public-private dialogue throughout the full cycle of policymaking, setting clear deliverables and having monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in place, have proven key to industrial development success stories.

Emmanuel Owusu-Sekyere, Director of Research Policy and Programs at the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), stressed the importance of growth with DEPTH. That is, a type of economic growth that leads to economic transformation and an improvement in human wellbeing. To do so, industrialization should strive to include women and youth in production, enhance skills of the labor force and address sustainability challenges. He also highlighted the potential of the AfCFTA to transform Africa’s industrialization landscape, particularly in addressing import dependence, and high costs and inefficiencies in the movement of goods and labor within the continent.

Pamela Mondliwa, Head of Research and Information at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), presented South Africa’s experience in industrial policymaking to achieve sectoral diversification and sectoral deepening. One of the sectors targeted for sectoral deepening in South Africa has been the automotive sector, with exports growing from 4% in 1995 to 14% in 2025 as a percentage of total merchandise exports. She highlighted the key role of incentives, the evolving nature of policymaking, and the importance of “learning by doing”, as well as the key role of reflecting on different policy actions to improving the efficiency and results of policy interventions. She also emphasized the importance of building internal capacity within public institutions as well as attracting and maintaining skilled public servants.

Diego Masera closed the session by summarizing some of the emerging opportunities mentioned throughout the discussion such as technological upgrading, youth entrepreneurship, agribusiness, and regional value chains. He pointed to the need for a new set of industrial policies that are future ready, SDG-oriented, collaborative and regionally coordinated to turn the emerging windows of opportunity into drivers of inclusive and sustainable structural transformation. 

The event was moderated by Petronella De Wet (UNIDO).

To read the latest issue of UNIDO’s policy brief series please see: The new era of industrial policy in Africa: from SDG assessment to policy solutions

The full report and overview of the IDR 2024 can be found at https://www.unido.org/idr2024  

To watch the recording of the session please see: https://www.unido.org/events/future-industrial-development-africa

For more information on the IDR, please contact:

Alejandro Lavopa 

Research and Industrial Policy Officer