Africa: Opportunity & Risk

 Assessment of African economies, January 1 – December 31, 2014

New York, June 25, 2014. While foreign direct investment has increased in developing and transitional economies according to UNCTAD's World Investment Report 2014, the global economic opportunity present in Africa has largely not yet been recognized in opinion-leading business media, according to new research from Media Tenor International.

South Africa received the bulk of coverage regarding both African economies and corporate activities in Africa during 2013.  But this coverage was negative on balance, and countries where there is a positive outlook on both the economy and corporate activity – such as Kenya – were far less visible.

“The media is aware of opportunity in Africa,” Roland Schatz, founder and CEO of Media Tenor says. “However, the focus remains on negative coverage, so the value of doing business in Africa, which is also clear thanks to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report, is often hidden from key decision makers.  As African economies and sustainable business opportunities continue to improve, Africa’s footprint in international media will also need to expand.”

According to James Zhan, "Developing countries and transition economies now constitute half of the top 20 economies" in terms of foreign direct investment.  This highlights the potential for growth in Africa.

This research examined all 8,839reports regarding economies and all 100,799 reports regarding corporate activities in international opinion-leading business mediaduring 2013. The UNCTAD World Investment Report 2014 can be downloaded at http://unctad.org/en/pages/PublicationWebflyer.aspx?publicationid=937

For over 20 years Media Tenor’s mission has been to contribute to objective, diverse and newsworthy media content by bringing together the diverse parties. Media Tenor’s global research projects include analyses of election campaigns, investor relations, public diplomacy, corporate communications and other topics critical to news makers and news audiences.

For more information, please contact Racheline Maltese at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.ediatenor.com or 212-935-0210.