Africa's 4th Industrial Revolution Post Covid-19: A Tale of Shenzhen's Enviable Successes.

Abstract

Africa is likely to miss the prospects of the 4th industrial revolution if governments and policymakers do not take the abundance of caution. In the last two centuries, three discoveries changed the world¬— the steam engine, industrial revolution, and internet. Africa had no stake in any of those discoveries. As developed countries industrialized in the 18th and 19th centuries, the African continent was still reliant on primordial food and material production technologies. Unfortunately, a similar trend is repeating itself, exacerbated by the effects of COVID-19. While advanced nations are transitioning(ed) to digital investments in areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, mechanized agriculture, 3D printing, and the internet of things, Africa appears to saunter. Not so many African countries are aligning themselves to exploit the opportunities that will come with the economic and social disruptions of the 4th industrial revolution. Challenges such as internet penetration, skill mismatch, poverty, poor governance, inequality, lack of modernization of agriculture, and improper structuring of economies will delay the revolution or truncate it elsewhere in the world. Besides, the COVID-19 pandemic presents new challenges undergirded by disruptions in global supply chains, slow economic projections, and inequalities in mass vaccination in the continent. However, Africa and its leadership can take deliberate, methodical, and timely interventions to seize the moment and lift its population from poverty and dependency. In this study, the author proposes a hybridized model embodying reverse engineering, infrastructural investment, special economic zones, and digital investment as the panacea for expediting Africa's prospects in seizing the possibilities of the 4th industrial revolution pegged on the successes of Shenzhen.