Foreign Direct Investment in Africa: Searching for Impact in Mali and South Africa

Little is known about impact of FDI on economic development in Africa compared to other developing countries, which the paper seeks to address by focusing on examples of impact in Mali and South Africa. The argument put forward is that the impact has to be identified at the level of the industry or sector and the level of the firm with regard to employment effect, income generation and skills development. The mining and electricity and railway sectors in Mali are investigated and compared to the automobile industry in South Africa. The paper ends with suggestions for future investigations which can shed more light on the pertinent issues about impact of FDI in Africa.