E-Business
Africa Poised to Emerge World Low-Cost Manufacturing Hub-IDC
The latest analysis from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Manufacturing Insights points to the way that the amount of investment flowing into African countries and the number of global brands investing in Africa has risen sharply in recent years.
For many low-cost manufacturers, the future lies in undeveloped regions such as Africa, the Insight reveals.
These manufacturers will encounter various issues and risks along the way, but many proven, profitable examples exist of successful manufacturing investments in African countries.
The inherent proposition of the low-cost manufacturing model is forcing many global manufacturers to re-align their strategies and constantly seek new, low-cost manufacturing opportunities in emerging economies.
Some traditional hubs for low-cost labor (e.g., China, Taiwan, India, and Malaysia) have seen a gradual increase in their labor costs as they successfully move up the value chain in their quest to meet higher quality standards.
“Some major manufacturing brands like H&M, Coca-Cola, GE, Pepsi, Nestle, and Renault have managed to leverage opportunities’ in Africa,” said Martin Kuban, IDC Manufacturing Insights’ lead research analyst for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (CEMA). “Africa has also seen a massive increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) from China in recent years, which means even Chinese manufacturing companies are keen on tapping into low-cost options.”
There are several factors driving this growing manufacturing trend in Africa, including the cheap labor force and the abundance of raw materials and low cost agricultural products.
However, there are numerous challenges that must also be addressed. Corruption, excessive bureaucracy and undeveloped financial systems are among the biggest issues.
“It is extremely difficult, and in some cases impossible, to succeed in certain areas without a local partner or the favor of the authorities,” continued Kuban. “Limited education levels and poor infrastructure compound the matter for many manufacturers. And in some regions, political instability and unrest must be considered above all other factors and inevitably impacts the attractiveness of the proposition for foreign businesses.”
Despite these perceived negatives, it is impossible to ignore the role that IT can play as an enabler of faster development for manufacturers operating in Africa.
IT deployment is much simpler in emerging African factories as vendors are often able to design IT environments from scratch due to the lack of existing infrastructure.
And with major declines in the prices of handheld devices, mobility can now be adopted without much difficulty by companies and individuals.
Such capabilities can be leveraged easily by manufacturers, both on the factory floor and for enhancing workforce management.
This will give an immediate boost to process efficiency and operational quality, potentially paving the way for Africa to take its place as the undisputed low-cost manufacturing hub of the world.
IDC Manufacturing Insights is focusing on the latest developments in the Middle East and Africa region in its upcoming CEMA research.
And the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets, IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy.
More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries worldwide.
For more than 49 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives.
IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com.
Transcorp Hotels Plc has delivered a stellar performance in the first half of 2025, recording a 60% year-on-year surge in revenue to ₦47.57 billion, up from ₦29.72 billion in H1 2024. Gross profit climbed 71% to ₦36.21 billion, maintaining a strong 76% margin despite inflation and operational headwinds.
The hospitality giant, a subsidiary of Transnational Corporation Plc, also announced an interim dividend payout of ₦1.024 billion — offering ₦0.10 per 50 kobo ordinary share to shareholders.
In a bold move, the company unveiled Nigeria’s largest corporate venue — the 5,000-seat Transcorp Centre — staking its claim as the new leader in event hospitality. Chairman Emmanuel Nnorom described the results as proof of Transcorp Hotels’ transformative strategies and unwavering investor commitment. MD/CEO Uzo Oshogwe attributed the success to relentless execution and a resilient business model.
Transcorp Hotels, renowned for iconic assets like Transcorp Hilton Abuja and its digital platform Aura, says it isn’t just leading Nigeria’s hospitality sector — it’s redefining excellence across Africa.
Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.
China state-backed Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon as well as China-based Storm-2603 were said to have “exploited vulnerabilities” in on-premises SharePoint servers, the kind used by firms, but not in its cloud-based service.
The US tech giant has released security updates in response and has advised all on-premises SharePoint server customers to install them.
“Investigations into other actors also using these exploits are still ongoing,” Microsoft said in a statement.
The firm said it had “high confidence” the hackers would continue to target systems which have not installed its security updates.
It added that it would update its website blog with more information as its investigation continues.
Microsoft said it had observed attacks in which hackers had sent a request to a SharePoint server “enabling the theft of the key material by threat actors”.
Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer at Mandiant Consulting firm, a division of Google Cloud, told reporter, it was “aware of several victims in several different sectors across a number of global geographies”.
Carmakal said it appeared that governments and businesses that use SharePoint on their sites were the primary target.
A number of adversaries who stole material encoded by cryptography were then able to regain ongoing access to the victims’ SharePoint data, he said.
“This was exploited in a very broad way, very opportunistically before a patch was made available. That’s why this is significant,” Carmakal said.
Carmakal said the “China-nexus actor” was deploying techniques similar to previous campaigns associated with Beijing.
Microsoft said Linen Typhoon had “focused on stealing intellectual property, primarily targeting organizations related to government, defence, strategic planning, and human rights” for 13 years.
It added that Violet Typhoon had been “dedicated to espionage”, primarily targeting former government and military staff, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, higher education, the media, the financial sector and the health sector in the US, Europe, and East Asia.
Meanwhile, Storm-2603 was “assessed with medium confidence to be a China-based threat actor”.
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.
According to the commission, the website has been circulating online to offer services for Nigerians seeking National Identification Number (NIN) services.
NIMC, in a post on its official X account on Wednesday, said, “NINcard.com is not in anyway affiliated to NIMC. Stay vigilant!”
The warning was accompanied by screenshots of fake payment receipts and OTP request pages from the website, both of which were boldly stamped “FAKE” by NIMC to alert the public.
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