The development of a French-speaking market in Africa is encouraged by a language, currency and contract law, as well as a few French multinationals. But the future is not written.

René Saal, former head of the Canal+ group and president of the consulting firm Adweknow, dedicated to the continent, has his eyes on the winner at 94% of the Ivorian presidential election. "Alassane Ouattara has the historic opportunity to reach out as soon as elected, Says. But if it has an aggressive policy towards the opposition, it will be a mess." It must be said that Côte d'Ivoire, which has doubled its GDP since 2011, has a particularity: it is a locomotive of French-speaking Africa, with 8% annual growth in eight years, and probably the most Francophone and Francophile of the sub-Saharan states. Nothing to do with Senegal, the other dynamic country in the area, whose Wolof is so widespread that its TV series are sometimes shot in this language to be then translated into French for other African countries. With a relatively prosperous Ivory Coast, it is the assurance of having a creative scene in audiovisual matters (Babiwood) and multilocal advertisers, which are added to the local and international (MTN, Orange, Unilever ...). In other words, companies that, after having developed in Abidjan, try their luck in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Benin or other French-speaking countries.

A cooperative advantage

Francophonie. The word is dropped. Sixty years after independence and fifty years after its creation, this movement sees its future in Africa, where 55% of its daily speakers are located. But it is only since the Dakar summit in 2012 that the 54 member states of the OIF (International Organization of La Francophonie) have begun to have an economic strategy. "It is not an economic area as such," says Henri Monceau, head of the OIF's economic and digital Francophonie directorate. Trade does not take precedence over the linguistic dimension. But there is a cooperative advantage to building relationships or cultivating innovations with actors who speak the same language." Isn't it because Rwanda first turned away from French in favor of English that it opened up to the English-speaking economies of East Africa. rather than the West?

10% french-language African content

Fortunately, the business circles of the former French colonial empire still speak French very often, the language of instruction. But the future is not self-evident. TV5, which launched a "Learn French with TV5Monde" app in March, is well aware of this. In partnership with the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry, its assistant director Evelyne Pâquier planned – before the lockdown – to create a specific apprenticeship on business French from the chain's Journal de l'économie. This dimension extends to cultural influence since the creation in October of the video streaming platform TV5MondePlus, which forecasts 10% of French-speaking African content. "There is an issue of discoverability," recalls Henri Monceau, "it is essential that this content is accessible and identified."

Other assets, the French-speaking African space has a common currency and legal history. The CFA franc, which can be converted into euros, is still the currency of 14 African states, although it must be replaced by the eco in West Africa. As for business contracts, they are still built according to legal rules all rights inherited from our French law, including electronic signature. We must add a political interest in developing exchanges in French, which can be a difficulty at the entrance for Anglo-Saxon companies. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec, which funded TV5Monde Plus and the second observatory of the economic Francophonie in March in Rabat, have understood this. "We are convinced that when you work in a common language market, you can have up to 30% added value compared to linguistically heterogeneous areas," explains Henri Monceau.

One of the great successes of this development is to the credit of the Canal+ group and its 5 million subscribers in Africa. Operated in French-speaking countries, this establishment, which today ensures the group's profitability, serves as a point of support for an extension to English-speaking Africa, as evidenced by the acquisition of 12% of the South African leader in pay-TV Multichoice. Orange, for its part, will launch on November 6, Djoliba, the first pan-African fiber optic network that will cover all of French-speaking West Africa.

Digital training for young people

Faced with connections that are often imperfect, unequal and sometimes poorly favoured by the powers that be, due to a lack of means or political will, access to the Internet is key. This is how a young continent will be able to train in digital technology. After supporting 60,000 start-ups through accelerators and incubators between 2014 and 2018 (also funded by Canada), the OIF is now interested in young companies that are between five and ten years old, have reached maturity and have growth potential, particularly in French-speaking Africa. Its secretary general Louise Mushikiwabo wants a major training plan for young people in digital technology to "put them in a position to propose their own solutions", relying in particular on artificial intelligence. Because as a 2019 report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development points out, Africa is as badly off as Europe in the data economy: less than 3% of resources compared to 3.4% for Europeans, 27% for China and 63% for the United States.

So the difference may lie in the ability to quickly form minds that can rely on AI. In Cameroon, the Caysti incubator trains young Africans in code based on English and French. The arrival of French-speaking Africa on the digital market represents both the greatest growth dynamic for the internet giants and a boulevard for large-scale predation. "Telecom operators do not want to lower their price and invest in bandwidth," says René Saal, "the investments are too important. As a result, the digital dream does not exist: we were talking about it three or four years ago but it is blocked by infrastructure."

A few years ago, we were also talking about Eldorado for the French-language media. Apart from Canal+, there are not many people left outside the public media and the Trace music channels. Lagardère has sold or is in the process of selling its Vibe radio stations in Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal. Gulli Africa is funded by Canal. And M6 has distanced itself from the Ivorian channel of TNT, Life TV. What about the projections of financial analysts who expect 750 million Francophones in 2060? "We are still very positive, the African market remains a real lever for growth," says Jérôme Bodin, of Natixis. In the end, it may be Amazon, Facebook or Netflix, who will end up investing in infrastructure – cable or satellite – to exploit the data.