Pau Solanilla: ‘Spain can help Africa become more competitive’

The third edition of the Africa Spain Summit was held in Madrid with great success, organised by One Africa Forums.

The main objective of the event was to strengthen ties at all levels between Africa and Spain.

Among the participants at the event was Pau Solanilla, partner at Harmon, a strategic consulting firm that advises organisations on interpreting their environment and their relationship with their stakeholders through non-market strategies.

Atalayar spoke with Pau Solanilla to analyse the current state of relations between Spain and the African continent. 

Mr Solanilla, Madrid is once again hosting the Africa Spain Summit, a well-established event now in its third edition. On this occasion, the forum has adopted a new approach that is more focused on dialogue between public administrations in Spain and African countries. What can we expect from this new approach? What progress do you think has been made since the forum began in 2023?

First of all, I think it is important to say that this forum has filled a gap in the relationship between Spain and Africa.

Our geographical proximity is much more than that; it is a cultural and emotional proximity, and now the aim is to turn that proximity and those connections into business opportunities and shared development between the two sides. Therefore, I believe that the forum has filled that gap, and this year, with its focus on government with a new and renewed vision of Spain from 2025 to 2028, it is a good opportunity to design new strategies, new alliances and somewhat unconventional actions, to think outside the box.

To get different results, you have to do different things, and I believe that this forum allows us to do that, to think together and then go out there and win new ground.

Strategic relations, youth, sustainable economy, Agenda 2030, collaboration between Africa and Spain. This forum addresses a wide range of issues arising from the collaboration between Spain and African countries. In which priority areas do you think this collaboration is most important for mutual benefit?

I believe that Spain's relationship with Africa, or its strategic vision, must be based on three pillars. Competitiveness, which means opportunities; sustainability in the fight against the climate crisis; and equity, in relation to equitable and shared development. In this sense, I believe that Spain is a good ally for a number of policies.

Firstly, energy is a critical factor for development. Spain is a powerhouse in renewable energies: wind, solar, hydro and geothermal. We could have an interesting alliance there. Secondly, the agri-food sector. Beyond the primary sector of agriculture, we must help Africa take the leap, as Spain did, to become an agri-food powerhouse. Agribusiness, added value and margins are much higher. The third is the digital economy, technology, health, education, fintech...

Africa has a lot of technological talent, and there are already technology hubs with which we could work together. And then there are some areas that are perhaps less explored but have high potential, such as the creative industries, because Africa has a young and talented population. Sport, the sports industry, which, beyond being an activity, also generates economic and local development.

Tourism, of course, responsible tourism, sustainable tourism. Spain can help Africa become more competitive and also learn from the mistakes, from some of the mistakes we have made. And finally, there are opportunities in the area of sustainable economy, decarbonisation, where Europe is looking for countries with which to make financial agreements, green bonds, emission bonds. 

In other words, there are a number of areas in which we could have what we call 'quick wins'.

We can emphasise young people, the youth of tomorrow, an African youth that is being educated, that is striving to achieve better goals, better jobs and a better quality of life. How can African countries take advantage of this enormous human potential with regard to Spain and Europe?  

Africa has two strategic vectors that many regions of the world do not have.

On the one hand, there is the obvious: resources, mineral resources, rare earths, land available for agriculture, natural resources. But then there is the second great strategic resource of the 21st-century economy, which is talent, the young population. We see how in societies such as Japan, China, Europe and even North Africa, demographic decline is causing our economies, looking ahead to 2040-2050, to suffer a slowdown and very low growth because there is a need for talent, a young, energetic workforce, a need for innovation, and that is what young people offer. 

And Africa has it. If it knows how to combine its natural resources with the oil of the 21st century, which is talent, it has a bright future ahead of it.

And at a time when the international situation is so turbulent, for example, with Russia and Ukraine, the Middle East and the Sahel, Africa has a role to play. What can it contribute? 

We are moving towards a polycentric world, with new centres. We talk about the emergencies of the superpowers China and the United States, but we are moving towards a decentralised world, where there will be no single world power and Africa can play a new central role with its challenges and problems. But Africa has the conditions to take a leap forward. 

Africa is the new great opportunity, but obviously all opportunities have challenges, they have obstacles, and some of them are not minor and must be tackled structurally so that Africa can really take the step forward it needs. 

As an expert on Morocco, where you have worked for a long time, what role does Morocco play as a country that connects both continents?

Morocco is what the Anglo-Saxons call a 'success story', a great African success story. In just a few years, it has gone from being perceived as a developing country to a middle-income country that leads very important economic sectors.

We were talking about the industrial sector, but we are talking about the automotive industry, the aeronautical industry, green technologies. It has made a great effort and invested in world-class infrastructure. It is one of the driving forces of Africa. We could say that Morocco is the great hub of development in North Africa, as well as other countries in West Africa, further south, or South Africa or Ethiopia, etc.

Morocco is a success story; some of the things it has done should certainly be observed, replicated and adapted to other realities. Morocco also has a great African sensibility, as we have seen in recent years. The reign of Mohammed VI has seen the deployment of very intelligent economic and political diplomacy; therefore, I believe that Morocco is a beacon that many countries can follow.

Storytelling is currently a very important issue in terms of how citizens perceive reality. In this regard, tell us about the work you do at Harmon.  

Negative narratives, stereotypes and prejudices about Africa are probably one of the biggest barriers, one of the biggest obstacles to attracting business and investment. That is what we do, what we call the non-market, creating positive perceptions, changing narratives that allow you to understand, get closer and build new alliances. There is a devastating statistic: Africa is losing 3.8 billion euros a year because of negative perceptions in the international media. 3.8 billion a year is an economic drain.

Some of the things are obvious, they are negative, as we have in Europe and other countries, but there are many others that are based on prejudice and a lack of strategic narratives, of African voices, of success stories, not only African ones, but also others that we have worked on in Africa and know the opportunities and potential they have.

That is where we come in, for what is called the reputation economy, so that Africa can take its rightful place and not be subject to a biased, post-colonial view based on prejudice and a supposed moral superiority of the West. There is work to be done and we must build new alliances between Europeans, Spaniards and Africans to improve this perception and these narratives about Africa.

We at Atalayar are also involved in this work, with communication as a key element when considering new challenges, new collaborations and, above all, a better future. 

Indeed, the work you do at Atalayar and One Africa Forums is important. This forum in Spain, like others, invites us first to think slowly and then to act quickly, and there is certainly a need to multiply this type of forum because there are still areas to be covered. If we said earlier that this forum has come to fill a void, there are other sectors in the fields of entrepreneurship, women, creative industries and sport where we can certainly do more.

I believe that alliances such as those being formed thanks to this forum are an opportunity, and opportunities sometimes give way to different realities.