Without the funding, says Julia Gause, it would all have been difficult. The first investments in the factory, then the setback caused by Corona. But now it’s going well: organic chocolate made in Ghana, generated with solar power. “In 2019 we shipped two full containers in the whole year,” says Gause, the head of Europe for the Munich company. Now it is one container a month, full to the brim with “Fairafric” chocolate. “An insane jump,” she says. And the “Compact with Africa” - a pact with Africa – helped.
The pact goes back to the G20 summit in Hamburg in 2017. At that time, in the aftermath of the refugee crisis, it was supposed to drive economic development in Africa and thus create new perspectives. Twelve African countries took part, in addition to Ghana, countries such as Ethiopia, Egypt, Tunisia and Rwanda. Even poor Burkina Faso is there. And this Friday, the federal government invites the participants to the conference for the fourth time. Because while the G20 presidencies change, Germany remains the patron of the initiative.
The partnership is intended to promote reforms among the partners, but even more so to promote economic relations. “Africa is still a continent of opportunity,” says Development Minister Gerd Müller (CSU). “As much will be built there in the next ten years as in Europe in the last hundred years.” But only one percent of German foreign investments are currently flowing there. What is needed is a “new spirit of optimism”, says Müller: “Off to Africa!”
A “development investment fund” worth up to one billion euros is supposed to help. Fairafric also received loans in this way – initially two million euros for the start, later another two million to cushion the consequences of the pandemic. 66 people now work in the factory in Amanase, a good 50 kilometers north of the capital Accra. Then there are the farmers who supply the raw material for the chocolate. A total of 21 projects have now been funded, ranging from Volkswagen e-tractors to be tested in Rwanda to a system that Ethiopian students can use to take their Abitur exams online – including facial recognition. Corrugated cardboard production in Senegal can be found there, but also medical test laboratories for Burkina Faso. The federal government claims that almost 9,000 jobs have been created or secured in this way.
The interest of German companies has increased
“We are heading in the right direction,” says Stefan Liebing, chairman of the Africa Association of German Business, “but the dimension is not yet.” In view of the 20 million new workers who come onto the labor market every year through population growth alone, 9,000 jobs are at best a start. But there are still companies that have projects in Africa but cannot find funding. Liebing believes that more venture capital is needed. “The fund is designed in such a way that it has to act too cautiously.” The economy in Africa by and large came through the Corona crisis quite stable, with a minus of two percent last year.
Corona, however, also complicates the assessment of the compact itself, says economist Jann Lay, who deals with globalization and development at the GIGA Institute in Hamburg. Overall, however, he helps. “One can say that the interest of German companies has increased in recent years.” Some of these initiatives also went directly back to the Compact. It is also not a mistake to concentrate on certain countries: “Your economic development always has an impact on neighboring countries,” says Lay.
In Ghana, Fairafric is already planning an expansion. A new hall is to be built, including new product lines. And no longer just for export. “Demand from Ghana itself,” says manager Gause, “is growing too.”