People in the west don't understand just how much African economies are controlled by horizontally- & vertically-integrated familial cliques of Indian & Arab oligarchs. These cliques hedge their interests with different political actors, who in turn attempt to seek rents on them.

Look at this list of the 20 richest men in Ghana. Half of them are Lebanese - that's the group that predominates there. https://ghstudents.com/richest-men-in-ghana/

While the organisation differs slightly from place to place and group to group, normally you see a model where the sons of these oligarchs take on different wings of an every-diversifying business. They will marry within their respective groups (Indian wives, Lebanese wives etc.)

Some of these big families trace their position in their respective country back to the 19th century, but they'll still typically have ties back to their mother country. Many Lebanese in Africa have been screwed recently because the Leb govt. has frozen their assets in Leb banks.

These groups will cultivate relationships with different political actors so that, regardless of which party wins an election, they are able to have nodes of influence and continue business with as little obstruction as possible.

You also have another variable, which is that of chieftancies. They hold varying degrees of sway in different African countries, and constitute a kind of parallel authority. In Ghana it involves having a unitary state but with multiple monarchs providing the 'dignified' function.

These families are big landowners. The scions of these royal families are often Anglo-educated in elite schools & universities (historically in Britain, now generally in the US). In Ghana, they serve as hereditary mayors of cities. In turn they help their people redistributively.

The President of a given African country may technically be the head of the whole state, but he will himself prostrate himself before the paramount chief of his given tribe, who may only technically 'control' one nation within the state, which may also overlap into another state.

Presidents and lower state functionaries have a comparative advantage in dealing with foreign governments, as they are the recognised, legitimate authority. These are the ones who can benefit from deals with e.g. the Brazilian state to build houses (half the money disappears).

It's typically because of state-level relationships that we hear stories of how China is 'taking over' Africa. The PRC can loan money to these states, initiate infrastructure projects, & thus provide an outlet for Chinese capital & excess Chinese labour (including prison labour).

There are also, to be clear, still a good number of successful white people. Outside of South Africa and its neighbours, however, they tend to operate more as individuals than as clans - more likely to take short/medium-term management positions & maybe leave families back home.

I know that in east Africa you still have what are essentially Anglo clans, families with South African-ish accents but British (often Scottish) surnames, descended from missionaries and other imperial administrators who never wanted to leave.

After all this boiling-off, the white women left in Africa tend to be tough. I don't think I'm doxing myself too much when I say that my aunt (via marriage) grew up in Kenya. That woman drinks like a fucking fish and speaks perfect pidgin.

Also, the kinds of white South Africans who leave South Africa tend to be a special breed. Wheeler-dealer types, people with debts, adventurists in search of something new, often quite dodgy people. They are another group where the women are more likely to follow the husbands.

(That is, white South Africans who leave to other, less developed countries in Africa, not those who move to Europe)

The number one rule about Africa, the one that nobody speaks about, is that you have to be damn tough & streetwise to survive there. Assuming that everyone you don't know is trying to screw you, but never losing your cool. Knowing the right joke when police ask for money...

Another thing people never seem to talk about is that you need to speak a pidginized form of English with the locals in order to be taken seriously. The biggest mistake wypipo make is speaking the Queen's English - no, it just makes you a turkey.

This is why baizuo aid workers fresh from Europe or America can struggle in Africa. They are quite simply psychologically incapable of even pretending to know the mannerisms necessary to be taken seriously there.