Nick Hedley | Southern Africa has a once-in-a-lifetime industrialisation opportunity

There's a massive industrialisation opportunity for southern Africa that's not being talked about nearly enough. The question is whether it will be grabbed with both hands or whether we'll be left behind again, writes Nick Hedley.

Wealthy nations – including the US, UK, Germany, and Australia – are on course to run almost entirely on clean electricity within the next 13 years. The entire backbone of the world economy is being replaced, and the amount of minerals, steel, cabling, solar panels, wind turbines and batteries required is on a scale never seen before.

And herein lies a massive industrialisation opportunity for southern Africa that's not being talked about nearly enough: Becoming one of the world's major clean energy hubs.