Africa was recently described in a particular way that has again brought the issue of perception about the continent to the fore. Depending on the point of reference, there is no right or wrong opinion about the remark. While the magnitude of infrastructure deficit in the region seem to support such expression, other indices like the entrepreneurial ecosystem, size of the consumer market, young workforce and high yield investment possibilities weaken that opinion.

Evidently key market players from Asia (China, India, Japan, and Singapore), who are accelerating their engagements with the continent, see Africa differently. They see a promising continent with economic resilience and vast investment opportunities. They see Africa as an interesting prospect for high value production. Thus, greenfield foreign direct investment into Africa from Asia has remained strong.

China sees the potential in a continent where the middle class bracket is expanding and consumer purchasing power is rising. They see Africans who lack access to basic financing—mortgages, loans, and credit card systems—but pay cash to build or buy houses, personal cars and other luxury items. Thus, China’s commercial enterprise in Africa has continued to grow, being the largest trading partner with total trade of $149 billion in 2016.

India sees an opportunity in the African healthcare sector following a significant increase in medical tourism from the continent to India. It was reported that 18,000 Nigerians spent $260 million on medical tourism to India in 2012 while East Africans spent $1 billion on Indian healthcare. Consequently, Indian healthcare operators are committing sizeable investments in Africa, building and opening facilities and forming alliances with the local health sector. Today, India is the second largest trading partner with $59 billion bilateral trade volume in 2015 and the AFDB has projected that India’s trade with Africa will reach over $100 billion by 2020.

Africa occupies a central role in the growth strategies of many Asian countries. China continues its strategic positioning in Africa by aggressively pushing its Belt and Road initiative while Japan and India have teamed up on their African strategy to establish a joint initiative called Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) to challenge China’s dominance in the region. Likewise, Singapore is pursuing an aggressive plan within its overall growth strategy to expand its previous African endeavors and look beyond their traditional trading partners in Asia. Its bilateral trade with Africa has progressed at an annual rate of 5.2 percent since 2005.

Unfortunately trade between the US and Africa has continued to be sluggish despite high momentum elsewhere. The inherent perception issues and fixation on risks and challenges have clouded the judgment of many American companies about opportunities in the market. While many US companies have an overly analytical and overly risk conscious approach towards Africa, Asians have a much more ambitious and strategic perspective.

The continent remains attractive to investors particularly manufacturers at the forefront of global supply chains seeking new markets, new opportunities and new grounds to break. American companies need a revolution in their perception of Africa to connect more with a continent that is rapidly adjusting to the global business environment.

Regardless of what one sees in Africa, whether the challenges or the opportunities, in ten years, it will be obvious that neglecting the African market was a strategy failure.

Kemi Arosanyin is a Global Trade contributor and the Director for Africa Trade Expansion Program at the World Trade Center Miami. She writes, speaks, and advises on trade and investment in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Sub-Saharan African (SSA) business environment, which offers great opportunities for trade and investment, is not so complicated to understand after all. The economic slowdown which became obvious in the region in 2015 is gradually subsiding. However, the fundamental factors responsible for the situation still exist.

Sub-Saharan Africa recorded a GDP growth rate of 2.4 percent in 2017, an improvement from the 1.3 percent of 2016, but still far below historical trends over the last decade. The gain came from rising commodity prices, improved climate conditions in east and southern Africa and a friendlier global environment.

The economic struggles of the two largest economies in the continent (Nigeria and South Africa) weighed down the regional performance at aggregate level. The good news is, these two countries are on a recovery path and expected to rebound in 2018 going by the recently-released World Bank flagship report on Global Economic Prospects. Nigeria has just exited a five-quarter recession while South Africa has pulled through two quarters of negative growth.

Isolating these two heavyweights responsible for the weak overall performance, in other places, growth continued at higher rates across the continent. Ethiopia is the fastest growing economy in SSA at an average growth rate of 8.5 percent over the last three years. Its investment in infrastructure is paying off. Ghana witnessed stable growth at 6.1 percent in 2017 and projected to be significantly higher in 2018. Improvement in crop production and public investment facilitated economic progress in Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire while Tanzania and Kenya also have strong projections.

Moving forward, the outlook for SSA is positive with a growth projection of 3.2 percent in 2018 and 3.5 percent in 2019. Eighteen out of the forty-three countries captured in the World Bank economic forecast will grow at 5 percent or above in 2018. Although this optimism is premised on key factors such as sustained higher commodity prices and macro-economic reforms, economic activities are general improving and the worst economic seasons appear to be over for the region.

The political restructuring sweeping through the continent has increased political and social pressure on governments to address past market failures. Thus, policy directions are changing, reforms are being undertaken and conducive regulatory environments are being created to unlock private investments. SSA continues to be the region implementing the highest number of reforms according to the World Bank Doing Business 2018 report.

Also, we have seen strong efforts towards building physical infrastructure through public-private partnerships in some countries. Poor infrastructure in the region depresses productivity growth rate by two percent per year as reported by AFDB in 2016. A successful execution of these agenda is critical to the economic prosperity of the continent.

Considering these positive indicators, investors searching for global opportunities should reassess the continent for their long term investment portfolio.

Kemi Arosanyin is a Global Trade contributor and the Director for Africa Trade Expansion Program at the World Trade Center Miami. She writes, speaks, and advises on trade and investment in sub-Saharan Africa.