We invest across many sectors but prioritise those that help further development. Our seven priority sectors have the strongest potential to create the most jobs for the capital invested and contribute towards many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. These sectors are infrastructure, financial institutions, food and agriculture, health, manufacturing, construction and real estate, and education.
In the fourth of our sector strategies, we set out why the manufacturing sector matters to us and what our investment priorities are.
Improving the local availability of manufactured products is vital to alleviating poverty and enabling economic development. This is because access to basic manufactured products directly impacts people’s standard of living. For example, without piping, valves and pumps, there can be no access to clean water and sanitation. And without readily available basic healthcare products and medicines, it is impossible to provide good basic healthcare. Without a strong local manufacturing sector as a foundation, growth in other economic sectors is also constrained.
Local manufacturing capability is significantly underdeveloped in most African and South Asian countries. This stifles the pace of broader economic development. It is not feasible to import all the manufactured goods required to keep pace with developmental needs, which slows inclusive progress towards achieving improved standards of living.
Recognising the developmental case for promoting strong local manufacturing sectors, at CDC we invest to support the growth and expansion of the sector across Africa and Asia. Our manufacturing sector strategy is built around three broad themes: improving manufactured product availability, accelerating manufacturing ecosystem development and promoting more responsible production and consumption.
To find out more about our approach, read our sector strategy.
To read insights from evidence and our experiences investing in the sector, read our Insight report, What’s the impact of investing in manufacturing?.
