While some view developing countries as hopeless, others see in them the potential for investment. Despite their struggles, many developing countries are growing at faster rates than wealthy and middle-income countries as their working age populations increase and larger shares of people gain access to education. Below are five American companies that are investing in developing countries.

1. Amazon
   In June 2016, Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos pledged that Amazon would up its planned direct investment in India from $3 billion to $5 billion. Amazon has already built 21 fulfillment centers and has employed large numbers of Indians in positions ranging from courier to researcher and developer. According to Bezos, India is Amazon’s fastest growing market.
2. Enviro Board
   Enviro Board is a New Jersey-based company that specializes in producing cheap and environmentally friendly panels, “e-boards,” that can be used to construct houses. In 2014, Enviro Board agreed to launch a joint venture with a local Zambian corporation, Africapaciti Investment Group. The agreement involved building over 6,000 houses a year and re-investing a significant portion of the profits into worthy causes.
3. Cummins
   Cummins is an American manufacturer of power generation equipment. Since 1962, it has been present in India via a joint venture, and today it employs almost 10,000 workers there. It also has a broad footprint in Africa, with representation in 51 out of 54 African countries. It has supported technical education and gender equality in Africa as well.
4. IBM
   In 2012, IBM set up a global research lab in Nairobi, Kenya. The lab’s researchers focus on finding solutions to the challenges Africa faces, particularly those relating to education, human capital development and sanitation. In 2015, IBM Research Africa added a South African branch through collaboration with a local university. The researchers there are making use of Watson, IBM’s signature cognitive computing system, as they address the continent’s major issues.
5. Coca-Cola
   Reduced to being one of the poorest countries in Asia by decades of autarkic military rule, Myanmar has courted foreign aid aggressively since it began to open up to the outside world in 2011. In 2012, Coca-Cola entered Myanmar after a 60-year hiatus by opening a new bottling plant there. The plant put the cap on an ambitious plan for $200 million in direct investment in the country over five years.

Whether it be through research and development, direct investment in production facilities or support for training programs, American companies investing in developing countries can help improve people’s lives. As potential consumers, people living in developing countries may also become major assets to the American economy in the future.

– Jonathan Hall-Eastman

Photo: Flickr