McNabb isn't the only person who sees big dollar signs in the region. The 40-plus countries of SSA feature numerous dynamic and developing markets. About 30 of this region's countries have implemented economic reform in the past decade to replace state-centralized systems, meaning their free markets are ripe for the picking. Getting in on the action, however, isn't easy. It's easy to get sucked into something you can't handle.
Experts say the companies most likely to succeed are ones that concentrate on niche markets.
Aquatics Unlimited, for example, is developing an environmentally safe plan to eradicate a menacing weed that's clogging up Lake Victoria. Feldman says another key strategy is to take a regional approach. Companies should try to focus on a group of neighboring nations because only a relatively small percentage of the various populations are located in cash economies. Despite the cornucopia of opportunities, Africa isn't a region entrepreneurs should pick for their first attempts at going global, says Judy Carson, a coordinator for Africa and the Near East at the Department of Commerce's Trade Information Center. Nor is it a region for entrepreneurs who are afraid to bet big.