For 2025, respondents draw a rather subdued conclusion. 46.2% of the surveyed companies rate their Africa business as positive, 34.6% as neutral and 19.2% as negative—a clear step back compared with 2023 (positive 58.2%, negative 12.7%). Christoph Kannengießer, Chief Executive Officer of Afrika-Verein, said: “Our companies are ready to develop projects, invest and deepen partnerships. However, weak economic conditions and cost pressure are also weighing on Africa business. What is still missing is a federal government that consistently aligns its Africa policy with the competitiveness of companies on the continent, instead of a patchwork across ministries. What we need is greater speed, predictability and impact. We can see the government’s efforts to improve in this regard—but they have not yet reached companies.”

A particularly important lever for increasing direct investment lies in double taxation agreements. 36.5% of all respondents—and the large majority of companies that already invest—see the absence of DTAs as a competitive disadvantage, due to tax uncertainty, a higher overall tax burden and disadvantages in tenders. “Anyone who is serious about encouraging German investment in African markets must treat tax predictability as a key competitiveness factor,” Kannengießer added.

The visa issue is similarly fundamental: 34% see the greatest need for action in visa and migration policy. For project business, service deployments and training, reliability matters—procedures must be practical, transparent and predictable so that projects do not fail due to administrative bottlenecks.

In the markets themselves, bureaucracy/corruption and financing/access to capital hamper business success. “This is not a license for sweeping judgments; it is a mandate for action: investment conditions must be improved, and procedures must become more transparent and reliable,” said Kannengießer. And: “Reducing bureaucracy is not an African issue alone—anyone who takes competitiveness seriously must work consistently on leaner processes in Germany and internationally as well.”