**1. Introduction**

Global FDI has been characterised recently by the rising proportion of OFDI from developing countries. By the first decade of the twenty-first century, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) acknowledged the importance of the internationalisation of enterprises as essential to strengthen the competitiveness of firms from developing countries ([1], p. 3). The OFDI growth trend from developing economies continued, growing

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

by 8% since 2012, culminating in 32.2% of total global OFDI by 2013 ([2]: xiv; 6; 39). African OFDI of US\$ 12 billion or 0.9% of global OFDI lagged dismally behind the contribution by developing countries in Asia, Latin America and other transitional economies. Transnational activities commenced in the 1960s as multinational enterprises moved operations to resourcerich, low-cost labour and capital-rich markets [3–7]. The first wave of OFDI during the 1960s and 1970s was motivated by efficiency and market-seeking factors. This wave was dominated by firms from Asia and Latin America. A second wave of OFDI followed in the 1980s, led by strategic asset-seeking enterprises from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea (Dunning et al., 1996; [8]: 3s). Since the 1990s, China, Brazil, India, Russia (the so-called BRIC countries), Malaysia, Turkey and South Africa were among the countries that made significant contributions to OFDI growth ([1]: 4). The growing involvement in international investments by more and more African companies follows from slightly more open markets in Africa, a more positive inclination towards private business by African Governments, as well as the sustained economic growth of the continent. This chapter investigates the latecomer challenge presented by African TNCs, their globalisation strategies and the direction of globalisation.
