Local content strategies in Africa’s mining sector hold significant potential to drive sustainable domestic growth, according to Ileana Ferber, Chief Executive Officer and founder of consulting firm Colibri Business Development. Speaking at a technical workshop during African Mining Week 2025, Ferber highlighted how governments and the private sector can harness policies as powerful catalysts in creating long-term, meaningful socio-economic development.
Ferber explained that local content should go beyond compliance and be embedded in companies’ core business activities, serving as a driver of socio-economic development and capacity building within a country.
“The ultimate goal is to integrate local content into global sustainability and environment, social and governance agendas to enhance local value creation and strengthen the resilience of resource-rich economies,” she said, adding that most local content policies already provide a strong foundation through their social objectives.
Ferber highlighted supplier development as vital for economic diversification, as it fosters innovation, builds capabilities in emerging sectors, and reduces reliance on a single industry, such as mining, by creating a broader and more resilient economic base.
A significant challenge highlighted during the panel was the lack of government capacity on how to formulate local content regulations effectively and correctly. Faber warned that high expectations from local stakeholders, combined with increasingly prescriptive contractual requirements from suppliers and service providers, can create tension. As a result of this, she said managing expectations early is therefore crucial.
Despite challenges, Farber emphasised the significant benefits of well-designed local content strategies. For the private sector, outcomes include improved stakeholder relations, cost savings, reduced technical risks, operational efficiencies, and increased transparency. Local economies benefit from enhanced competitiveness, diversification, socio-economic development, better-informed corporate strategies of mining companies, and geopolitical stability.
Highlighting one of the positive trends shaping the future of local content in Africa’s mining sector, Ferber noted growing efforts to harmonise frameworks across the continent. This shift is enabling stronger regional value chain development and encouraging the introduction of local content requirements in downstream industries.
“There is no perfect one-size-fits-all local content policy in Africa as these policies and regulations must evolve as benchmarks for ongoing improvement,” Ferber concluded.
Colibri Business Development is a sponsor of the African Mining Week 2025 conference, taking place in Cape Town from 1-3 October.
