A Decade of NEPAD - Economic Commission for Africa - uneca

46 A Decade of NEPAD: Deepening African Private Sector and Civil Society Ownership and Partnership
ӹ Protecting property rights and enforcing business
contracts,
ӹ Ensuring competition,
ӹ Treating the private sector as an effective and legitimate
partner in promoting sustainable growth, development
and poverty eradication,
ӹ Simplifying the tax systems and providing incentives
for investors,
ӹ Creating specific institutions to facilitate development
of the private sector,
ӹ Improving access to infrastructure and finance,
ӹ Providing training and support for entrepreneurship
ӹ Reducing the burden and cost of doing business.
However, there has been a significant gap between policy
formulation and implementation and even when policies
and strategies have been sound, a lack of capacity has
thwarted efforts to effectively and efficiently deliver on
private sector development programmes and initiatives.
The African Governance Report II 2009 notes that across
eleven areas of focus related to African government performance
in supporting the private sector, the initiatives
and more, accurately, the depth, capacity and sustainability
2009 AFRICAN BUSINESS TOP 500 – ENERGY COMPANIES
of the implementation efforts were typically weak and the
results inconsistent.
Against this back drop of a vast and growing African
informal business sector, a large urban concentrated SME
sector, and a well meaning but ineffective effort on the part
of government to invest and provide technical assistance
and real opportunity for the private sector, there is also
the growing phenomenon of the African trans-national.
This phenomenon has been fuelled largely by the African
expansion appetite of South African companies since
democratic elections were held in 1994.
Africa focused publications such as the Africa Report and
African Business have been chronicling the rise of Africa’s
business titans in annual lists of top companies across the
continent. While the top companies in either magazine’s
list disproportionately feature South African companies
among the top 100 companies, it is significant to note that
north Africa and South Africa have a number of financial,
construction, engineering, media, telecommunications,
food, beverage and agribusiness corporations that operate
trans-nationally in Africa and often beyond. 61
61 See Appendix B – Africa Report Top 500 Companies and African
Business Top 200 Companies
RANK IN 500 COMPANY COUNTRY TURNOVER US ($bn)
1 SONATRACH ALGERIA $67.63
2 SONANGOL ANGOLA $17.00
27 SAMIR MOROCO $4.11
36 NAFTAL ALGERIA $3.24
54 SOC.IVOIR.DE REGGINAGE COTE D’IVOIRE $2.33
55 SOC.TUN.DES IND.DE.RAFF TUNISIA $2.25
58 SOC.NAT.LE DE RAFF. DU PETR ALGERIA $2.09
72 SOCIETE NAT.H’CARBS CAMEROON $1.57
76 OANDO NIGERIA $1.50
79 TOTAL GABON CABON $1.46