Africa, A New El Dorado for Space Business

The African space industry had a history of relatively quiet, sporadic progress, but it is now blossoming into enormous growth; the industry is projected to grow over 40% in the next 5 years.

Space in Africa spoke with Dr. Tidiane Ouattara at the recently concluded Global Conference on Space for Emerging Countries, held at Marrakech in Morocco. Dr Ouattara is the GMES & Africa Coordinator and Space Science expert at the African Union Commission. In this interview with Dr. Ouattara, he gave deeper insight into African space economy and how the continent is capitalizing on key projects like GMES & Africa to solve socio-economic challenges in the region.

The African Space Agency is rated as the next big thing in the global space industry due to its prospects; what should the world expect from the Agency?

Dr. Ouattara: The Agenda 2063 envisions an Africa determined to usher in a new era of peace, development and prosperity by assuming its rightful position in the global arena. This same mantra represents the continent’s aspirations in the global Space arena and the announcement of a host country for the African Space Agency is testimony to this. The Agency is indeed a big achievement in our drive to make an African outer space programme a reality. This is the body to take charge of the coordination and administration of space matters in the continent. Its advent is a statement that Africa is ready to be a responsible and competitive user of space for the benefit of its citizenry.

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The African space industry had a history of relatively quiet, sporadic progress, but it is now blossoming into enormous growth; the industry is projected to grow over 40% in the next 5 years.