How North Texas can do business in Africa; Summit brings global leaders, opportunities to Dallas

Global corporate leaders and top U.S. and African government officials are arriving in Dallas to highlight economic opportunities on a continent that is often overlooked by businesses.

The Corporate Council on Africa will host its 16th annual U.S.-Africa Business Summit at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center May 6-9. The event will bring together more than 1,500 American and African senior officials, international investors and private sector executives and focus on key economic sectors such as energy, finance and health. Heads of state and ministerial delegations from countries such as Malawi, Nigeria, Botswana and more are expected.

Topics at the summit are set to include opportunities for American and African businesses within the Africa Continental Free Trade Area and advancing the digital economy in Africa.

The CCA — a business association dedicated to promoting greater U.S-Africa trade, investment and collaboration — has hosted the event since 1997, mostly alternating between the U.S. and Africa. The 2024 summit marks the first time the multi-day conference has been held in the United States since 2017 and first time it’s ever been held in Dallas.

"Where else will businesses in Dallas have an opportunity to talk to several presidents [and] be up close with them?" said John Olajide, CEO of Dallas-based health care technology company Axxess and president and chair of the CCA. "Instead of having to take a trip to 54 African countries to go learn, they will come to you at your doorstep with all the information you need. This is a historic gift for our community and for our business community in particular. I cannot wait for how all the benefits reverberate for decades to come."

Africa is a continent of the future — one with immense growth and potential but one that only accounts for about 3% of global trade, according to Al Jazeera.

Olajide spoke with Dallas Business Journal about the summit's opportunities for North Texas businesses. The interview below has been edited lightly for clarity and brevity.

Why should the North Texas business community pay attention and engage with the summit?  

Let me give you some stats that you’ll find fascinating. Twelve percent of the African diaspora in the U.S. resides in Texas. The largest African diaspora is in Texas. The second thing is the DFW region has the third largest number of the African diaspora. And there are big U.S. companies that do business in Africa [like] Exxon, Chevron and Caterpillar. There are already connections between the U.S. and Africa that aren't as obvious to a lot of people.

The African continent is rapidly growing. It has the youngest demographic population in the world. As we're thinking about the future of the world, this is a population that we will have to engage.

Then when you also think about all the critical minerals that are needed to power economies of the future, all of those are on the African content. An example is when you're thinking about electric vehicles, you need lithium and other ancillary minerals. All of that is on the continent.  

When you think about Africa as a whole, Africa is the largest single trade region in the world. There’s the Africa Continental Free Trade zone. It’s the largest free trade zone in the world. These are fascinating numbers, and those represent incredible opportunities for businesses in the North Texas region. 

What opportunities and/or partnerships with African businesses does the summit wants to showcase to Dallas business owners?  

You can go through opportunities sector by sector. For instance, with the agricultural sector with the rapidly growing population that I talked about, ranching and cattle are [things Texas] is really good at. I know African presidents for instance that have visited this area in the past and fly back to Africa with bull semen for their cattle.

Another example is this region is known for a lot of expertise in fiber optics, technology and telecommunications. The African continent is underserved in that area, so there’s a need for that technology.

The beauty of our region is it’s a diverse economy. No one sector is really dominant. We’re [also] a large health care market. Lots of successful health care organizations here. There are also opportunities for them.

I saw a stat that said education is one of the biggest exports of the US, and we have fantastic universities in this region that are attracting talent. I came here to go to college at the University of Texas at Dallas. Look at what my life has turned out to be, and I know there will be countless other stories like that.  

There are also opportunities in renewable energy. That's an area where we're doing really, really well. There's opportunities for Texas-based companies, especially businesses in the North Texas region, to export the expertise, ensure all that advanced manufacturing around renewable energy can be paired with easy access to raw materials and form win-win partnerships.

What are some examples of deals that have happened at the summit? 

There have been multi-billion dollar deals have been done. I’m actually even aware of some that will happen at the summit. There's a multi-billion dollar renewable energy deal that I’m aware of. There's also another multi-billion dollar agriculture project that I'm aware of. In fact, one of my other companies will be involved in that.  

Lots of those types of deals happen. There'll be a deal room where deals will be announced. What you’ll find is those are typically multi-billion dollar transactions where it's U.S. technology and U.S. know-how that’s being exported in partnership with a lot of organizations.  

What are business leaders missing about Africa? What are things you would want executives to understand about the continent as they think through potential opportunities?

It’s a young continent, rapidly growing. It's a huge free trade market. It's a continent that's underserved in lots of different areas. There are tremendous opportunities for growth and transfer of knowledge and technology.  

What's fascinating is it’s a population that is very digitally native. A lot of them can do things on amazing technological devices. That's just all they know how to do.

I tell people that the most incredible advancements in payment technology that I've ever seen are on the African continent. I'll give an example. If you want to transfer money from Wells Fargo to Bank of America, it can be a chore and difficult bank to bank. But everything is seamless [on the African continent]. I'm usually amazed at the type of innovation that I see there. I think there are benefits for businesses in our region to learn from.