Sheikh Mansour Bin Jabor Bin Jassim Al Thani has been travelling across Africa over recent weeks – pledging billions of dollars in investment.
With each visit, we have been reminded that he is “a senior member of Qatar’s royal family”, lending him credibility and to fend off any side-eyes from sceptics – such as us. It’s hard to keep up. So here is a rundown of what he has promised African economies over recent weeks.
Mozambique: US$20 billion for agriculture, energy, infrastructure, health, education, and tourism.
Botswana: US$12 billion with the Botswana Development Corporation, covering infrastructure, mining, agriculture, tourism, cybersecurity, and defence. President Duma Boko called it “a historic move”.
DRC: US$20 billion for livestock, mining, and hydrocarbons.
Burundi: US$12 billion – nearly double the country’s entire GDP, which was US$7 billion last year.
Zambia: US$19 billion for a new investment bank, 1.5 million houses, smart cities, and agriculture. President Hichilema said it would be Zambia’s biggest-ever investment.
Zimbabwe: The Herald was breathless: “US$19 billion windfall for Zimbabwe: Qatar’s royal family arrives to unleash investment.” A three-day visit was billed as “reshaping the country’s economic trajectory.” Sheikh Mansour also met gold trader Scott Sakupwanya.
Sheikh Mansour plans to also visit Tanzania, Angola, Gabon and the Central African Republic.
What’s really happening?
Qatar’s trade with Africa is tiny – less than 1% of its global trade. Yet here is a “senior royal” promising deals in some countries that are bigger than the entire size of their economies.
According to Knight Frank, Qatari investment in Africa stood at about US$7.2 billion in 2023 – far behind rivals like the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are racing ahead in Africa, especially around ports and trade routes. Qatar, somewhat isolated in the Gulf after a regional boycott, may now be playing catch-up.
But Sheikh Mansour’s tour looks curiously detached from official Qatar. There has been no official coverage of the billion-dollar tour by Qatari official government channels or even its media, despite the Sheikh’s own son being the government’s communications chief.
In a note to clients on the Sheikh’s tour, Brendon Verster of Oxford Economics Africa says: “Securing capital is merely the beginning, with implementation being the true test. Large-scale investments such as these necessitate solid governance, transparency, and hands-on management, all of which are lacking in nations such as the DRC and Zimbabwe.”
Russian think tank, Africa Initiative, has another take: “One of the key obstacles for Doha has been the lack of reliable data on investment opportunities in Africa, according to industry experts at the Qatari sovereign wealth fund.”
According to another report, the Qatar Investment Authority has found it hard to find projects for long-term investment in Africa. So it is scanning the content for “unoccupied profitable sectors and trying to establish contacts with governments and businesses” in Africa.
What Sheikh Mansour is likely hoping for is scattering as many MoUs across Africa as he can, and hoping those governments will do the legwork of finding viable projects that he, and those like him, can invest in. It’s a fishing expedition, more than a tour with substantive investments in the bag.
Until then, for Africans on his itinerary, it must be less excitement about “billions”, but more about doing what many leaders fail to do – preparing bankable projects, while keeping eyes and ears super wide open.
