Englisch BHS, Maturatraining mit Audio-CD

14 Reading An awakening giant Read the text about manufacturing in Africa, then choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D) for questions 1–7. Put a cross ( ) in the correct box. The first one (0) has been done for you. 03 An awakening giant Less than an hour’s drive outside Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, Muhammed Gettu walks along the valley. He is carrying two ten-litre cans of milk to a local market, where he will sell them for half what they would fetch at a dairy in the city. A bicycle strong enough to survive unpaved tracks would be enough to double his revenues. At the moment none is available. But that may be about to change. An aŒliate of SRAM, the world’s second- largest maker of cycle-components, is aiming to invest in Ethiopia. Its Bu†alo Bicycles look ungainly but have puncture-resistant tyres, a heavy frame and a rear rack that can hold 100kg. Designed and assembled in South Africa, there are already about 150,000 Bu†alo bikes on the African continent, –ghting puncture-prone com- petition from Asia. ose who doubt Africa’s ability to advance o en point to the continent’s lack of manufactur- ing. Few countries, they argue, have escaped poverty without putting a lot of workers through factory gates. Yet a quiet boom in manufacturing is already taking place. Farming and services are still dominant, backed by the export of commod- ities, but new industries are emerging in a lot of African countries. Industrial output in what is now the world’s fastest growing continent is expanding as fast as the rest of the economy. e evidence is everywhere: H&M and Primark source material from Ethiopia, General Electric is building a $250m plant in Nigeria, a New York chocolatier employs hundreds in Madagascar and a Chinese shoemaker has built an export business near Mr Gettu’s farm. Domestically-owned manufacturing is growing too. Cheap mobile phones are being made in South Africa, and Angola is to build its own arms industry with help from Brazil. Mobius Motors, a Kenyan –rm, is producing cheap, durable cars for rough local roads. African cra smen, such as Ali Lamu, who makes handbags from upcycled dhow sails, are making inroads into western fashion. Many of these businesses are bene–tting from growth outside the manufacturing sector. e spread of big retail shops encourages light indus- try. A construction boom is giving access to high voltage power and the spread of mobile telephony, including mobile banking, helps small suppliers. e World Bank has suggested that owing to wage pressures, more than 80 million manufac- turing jobs could leave China, not all of them to neighbouring countries with low costs. If African productivity continues to rise, many could go to Africa, especially if corruption and red tape – still major problems for the continent – can be checked. is could mark a sea change. e rise of Asian manufacturers in the 1990s hit African –rms hard. e thriving garment industry of Northern Nigeria was wiped out, unable to compete with low-cost imports. is was partly the fault of governments, who neglected industry needs, es- pecially for roads and electricity. But according to World Bank economists, Africa is now in a good position to industrialise. It will need to invest more in infrastructure and improve the business climate, but many countries have already started to tackle these challenges. Kenya is not about to become the new South Korea. African countries are likely to see the steady growth of numerous small and medium sized businesses as well as some big ones. For the next decade or so, services will still generate more jobs than manufacturing does, which is –ne. India has boomed for more than two decades on the back of services, while steadily building a manufacturing sector from a very low base. Do not bet against Africa doing the same. Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv