Present Day African Colonialism

This article was found on online.wsj.com. This article was very unique to me because of its context. I chose this article mainly because I could link the idea of the article to African Colonialism which is what we previously talked/ discussed/ studied in my African Cultures class. In this day corporate industries are looking to expand and have no where else to go, except for the only continent without many industries. I bet your guessing Africa, and you would be correct. The spread on industries like burger king inc, yum foods, Johnny Rockets inc., etc are making a move into Africa. This article is centered around Johnny Rockets, Burger King, KFC, and Hardees. This is a step up in Africa because not everyone may be used to a business atmosphere. The article explains that selling burgers are harder in Africa than the US because of the price of importing the product.

This picture was taken by the associated press and depicts what the newly built Johnny Rockets is like in Nigeria (Associated Press)

This picture depicts the price difference between that of the US and Africa (Associated Press)

As the picture above shows the prices are significantly higher in Africa, which is considered to be the poorest continent by some. Another problem that occurred for companies were the water shortage of their location. The specific company would have to make a well just to get a source of water for the restaurant. And lastly, not many Africans are used to eating pizza like Dominos. In the Dominos that were built in Africa only 2 of the 76 surveyed employees had pizza before in their lifetime. Therefore, the head manager sent his management to Manhatten to observe what it's like to maintain a pizza business.

This article was interesting to me because it reminds me of the modern day colonialism. In the African Colonialism era, people rushed into Africa because of its land and resources. Today people are rushing into Africa to start fast food businesses and profit from African consumers. As far as the higher pay for the product is one coming or them. Not everyone will be able to afford a $14 burger from Johnny rockets because it is simply too expensive. Company owners and CEO's are simply targeting those who can and will because of the temptation to buy an American burger in Africa.