
<p><strong>As the founder and CEO of the Arise Group, one of the largest infrastructure investment platforms in Africa, <strong>Gagan Gupta</strong></strong> <strong>has, in a decade, developed a portfolio of 18- plus large-scale infrastructure projects across Africa. Present in 12 African countries and employing over 6,200 people, building industrial and logistic ecosystems, sustainability is at the core of his mission and so is developing African talent. The Gabon special economic zone he built in 2011, was the first carbon-neutral industrial zone in Africa. Here, he speaks about his key strategies for unlocking Africa’s future.</strong></p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center" id="h-developing-africa-s-natural-resources"><strong>Developing Africa’s natural resources</strong> </h4>



<p>For too long, Africa has been exporting its natural resources. The whole business model we built was around developing something sustainable based on the raw materials of each country and changing them forever. This continent has been exporting raw material for the last 400 years, and that is the only constant. Africa grapples with three big issues. First is unemployment. Second, you have a situation where the governments are not able to spend enough money on healthcare and education because they have a low GDP base. Third is the climate perspective. </p>



<p>Everybody says we need to be looking at climate, but the continent produces [a large amount of ] the world’s cashew and sends it to Asia, where it gets transformed and goes to Europe and the U.S. So, you’re creating a massive carbon footprint for no reason. How I look at it is the continent needs long-term fixing, which will not hap- pen with donations or grants. It has to happen through fundamental change, which is sustainable and using the core strengths the countries have, and that is natural resources. </p>



<p>How do you really look at transforming that and ensuring you build entire businesses around it? Therefore, what we did was look at each country’s strengths, train the youth, get them to transform [raw materials] and then export it. If you look at Gabon, we focused on timber, and in Benin, raw cashew. Instead of exporting raw, we add value and then export. Even cotton. The busi- ness model is around the sustainable transmission of the resources these countries have, which unlocks massive po- tential for the youth and creates a long-term future.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center" id="h-the-years-in-india-and-africa">The years in India and Africa</h4>



<p>I was born in Alwar in Rajasthan. I studied in Chennai, and then did my chartered accountancy in Delhi. What I always wanted, even as a 16-year-old, was to create impact and change lives. My father used to be the CFO of a large ce- ment company, and would leave home for work at 5.30AM every day and worked hard… In the year 2000, I wanted to build an industrial zone in India, when working for Reckitt Benckiser. And then, I joined Olam – a very entrepreneurial company. I always believed in entrepreneurship and came to Africa. I had not heard about Gabon at the time, and had to look it up on the internet. It was in 2008 and I didn’t un- derstand how the countries in Africa were saying they were so poor and continued to export raw material. How can you be in a situation where you are saying you don’t have jobs and you are exporting, literally, your jobs away? And that’s how it all started. I worked with Olam for 12 years, and all of it in Gabon.</p>



<p>Gabon is a beautiful country, 88% of which is covered by dense green forest. We looked at it and said, ‘how can this country be having all this wood exported as raw, and at the same time the country is importing timber products from the outside’. We built the first carbon-neutral industrial zone in Africa here… Nobody could believe that this country will go from exporting logs to becoming the second-largest exporter of veneer globally. It was unimaginable, exporting to China, India, Vietnam… What really also got me living in Gabon was the people, always smiling and happy. For my kids, Gabon is their first home. I love the rain, the sun, the climate there. I spend about 20 days a month in Africa [from my base in Dubai].</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center">The transformation journey</h4>



<p>The way I look at is, the bigger the problem you’re solv- ing, the bigger the business you’re creating. You are fixing a problem happening every day. And I believe this is the only way for Africa to progress. This is the only way you can make permanent change and create positive, long-term, sustain- able impact in the continent. Obviously, when you start, you will not be sure if it will work; there will be iterations and everything. That’s what we did. But once we did it, it became quite successful. And what will happen is that the other countries will come and say, ‘can you do it for us too?’</p>



<p>Understanding why it didn’t work [previously] and then fixing those points is really what will make it work… When we choose countries, we [are not in] the business of flag-hoisting. We want to go to the countries that want to take this journey with us, because transformation is not an easy job. The first thing we want to understand is if the gov- ernment is wanting to do this journey with us or not. Sec- ondly, do they have the raw material? Do they have neces- sary things for the industrial zone to be successful? Because, at the end of the day, industrialization cannot happen if you do not have the right ingredients to transform. In some cases, the raw material can even be energy. Maybe the country has a lot of energy, and you can make energy-heavy industry, or it can be talented manpower that the country boasts, and you can build something around that. So, identifying what is going to be a key input, that will be the differentiator, and what you can produce that you can export on a global, com- petitive scale. From our perspective, we are building ecosys- tems, end-to-end&#8230; Build it and people will come.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center">On African manpower</h4>



<p>The youth of Africa is wanting to work hard, they’re avail- able, and want to make a difference. You just need to orient them in the right direction. It’s just that it’s a chicken and egg story. If you do not have industry, how will you skill them? And if you do not have skills, how will you build the industry? So, we go and build vocational training centers in partnerships before we start. And I think the only way to break some of these vicious cycles is to say, let me create it, and things will happen.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center">Thoughts on the DRC</h4>



<p>I love the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). You can feel the energy at 5AM, you can feel the rush. The DRC is a massive market, and with the population [100 million] it has, we are building an industrial zone. I think the key challenge there is to solve for energy. Also, people who have not been to the DRC have very different images of it in their mind, so it’s about convincing people that the DRC is very safe for in- vestments, outside of mining. The government is quite com- mitted to the process. And we are looking to rehabilitate the railway that connects Matadi to Kinshasa.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center">Running and organizing marathons</h4>



<p>I run over eight and a half kilometers every day from 5AM. That’s my adrenaline, my time of peace and problem-solv- ing. I have my routes, in Dubai, in Benin, in the DRC – where I run around the Corniche. For the last eight years, we have co-organized official marathons in Gabon for thousands.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center">Leadership lessons</h4>



<p>You have to be a good human being. We all need to realize that we are just lucky where we are. The family that you were born into already decides so many things in your life. So, you have to be thankful you were born in a place that could afford your education, your food, because there are so many people in the world who don’t know today what they will eat. We can claim we are smart, but I don’t think so, I think in the end, it’s about things falling in place and about being human. I don’t look at work as work. I have fun. I do it because I love it.</p>


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Gabon To Africa – ‘Build It And People Will Come’