Africa is not yet harnessing the Blue Economy – sustainable economic activity around the world’s oceans – a $1.5 trillion sector supporting around 31 million jobs globally, organisers of an ocean conference said on Monday. 

Alexis Grosskopf, founder of Africa’s first ocean-impact startup accelerator OceanHub said in a statement that African investors and entrepreneurs are not moving fast enough to capitalise on the opportunities in the Blue Economy.

“The Blue Economy has traditionally encompassed areas such as fishing, aquaculture, tourism and maritime activities, but there is scope for so much more innovation in the sector,” Grosskopf said.

“The African ocean economy is predicted to generate $405 billion by 2030," he said.     

Grosskopf is a co-founder of the Ocean Innovation Africa summit, an international event set to bring together Blue Economy policy makers, stakeholders and entrepreneurs in Cape Town in February next year, the statement said.

Organisers of the conference said there was a need to have more entrepreneurs and investors moving into the Blue Economy to achieve sustainable growth at a pace and scale that matches – or exceeds – current ocean and humanitarian crises.  

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com)