CASE STUDIES FROM AFRICA

FOREWORD
The services sector contributes almost half of the African continent’s economic output, and it
has been growing at about twice the world’s average, signifying its transformative potential for
the entire continent.
This volume is a compendium of five case studies of successful services exports in Africa. It
highlights Air Transport Services in Ethiopia, Banking Services in Nigeria, Business Processing
Outsourcing/ICT Services in Senegal, Cultural Services in Burkina Faso, and Higher Education
Services in Uganda. The studies are an examination of possible best practices in services exports
on the continent, as seen from the suppliers’ point view, with a review of the role of
government policy and other factors that may have shaped their success. The countries and
sectors were selected on the basis of their service sector performance. In some cases (such as for
Cultural Services in Burkina Faso), we have looked for non-traditional service sectors, especially
where the private sector’s role in exploring the foreign market has been a critical success factor.
Policy makers will find in this volume a gold mine of effective strategies that can be valuable in
stimulating their services exports. Services firms can also learn from these case studies, while
researchers and students can benefit from a trove of information to further stimulate research
on African trade in services. Further, this compendium clearly demonstrates how public-private
partnerships are critical to the growth of the services sector.
The studies find that most of the services exports from African Union members at present go to
the regional market but some African countries have already diversified beyond the continent.
In addition, they find that while certain initial factors have been key to the competitiveness of
services sectors, supportive government policies and a conducive business-enabling
environment have also been critical to their growth. This report concludes that the services
sector has the potential to become a significant driver of sustained economic growth and
structural transformation in Africa. This is a very important finding in light of our Agenda 2063
aspirations.
This publication is timely as the continent advances on the negotiations of the Continental Free
Trade Area, which is also looking at liberalizing the continent’s services sector. I am confident
that this publication will be a successful and positive contribution to the literature in this critical
but often overlooked area of the continent’s economic structure.
H.E. Mrs. Fatima Haram Acyl
Commissioner, Department of Trade and Industry
December 2015
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