Should Africa Rely On Automation To Leapfrog Cheap Labor Phase?   

Africa got 1 billion plus people and yet the whole continent's economy is only about the size of South Korea. This means the whole African continent is still very poor and needs to be developed a lot so that Africans can have some hope for a better future. Unfortunately, as cheap labor is moving out of China to China's neighbors such as Vietnam, the whole world is now all the rage on how to rely on the automation of machines so even cheap labor cannot compete. If this is the case, I don't think the Africans will have a chance of mobilizing their 1 billion plus people to industrialize the African continent.

So, the question is if Africans cannot rely on cheap labor to develop and industrialize the African continent, then what else could the Africans rely on to develop Africa? If Africans try to rely on the aid of Western countries, then Africans will never be able to develop their own industries that are necessary to pull the African continent out of poverty for good. Although the Chinese are building the infrastructures inside Africa to better the livelihood of the Africans, without a staple of strong industries the Africans will still face the problem of not being able to industrialize the African continent.

Although I don't know much about Africa, in my humble opinion, Africans should try to go for automation themselves to leapfrog the cheap labor phase. This means Africans have to develop a very entrepreneurial mentality so they can come up with business models that need automation as a necessary ingredient for their business. Furthermore, instead of only relying on aid from the West and the infrastructures from China, Africans should demand the Chinese teach them how to develop and incorporate Artificial Intelligence in their businesses. I think machine learning and higher AI will definitely be able to help Africans to automate the needs in their entrepreneurship businesses and leapfrog the cheap labor phase.