Productivity doesn't depend solely on machines, investments, or technologies. It also improves over time as companies accumulate experience. Producing more often leads to producing better. This mechanism, less visible than large investments, nevertheless plays a central role in economic transformation.

Economists use the term "learning effect" to describe this process. When a company repeats an activity, it improves its methods, reduces errors, optimizes resource use, and becomes more efficient. Teams become faster, processes are better controlled, and costs gradually decrease.

In industry, this effect is particularly pronounced. A factory launching a new production line often starts with high costs, material losses, and longer lead times. But over the months, the production lines stabilize, workers develop more precise movements, and the organization improves. With the same output, the company uses fewer resources and becomes more competitive.

This phenomenon is not limited to industry. In agriculture, a producer who better understands cycles, inputs, or cultivation techniques improves their yields. In the service sector, experience leads to faster turnaround times, better customer management, and reduced operating costs.

The learning effect also explains why some economies manage to gain competitiveness in the long term. Countries like China and Vietnam built their industrial advantage by producing on a massive scale over several years. This accumulation of experience made it possible to reduce costs, improve quality, and gradually capture market share.

In West Africa, this learning process remains uneven. Many businesses operate on a small scale, with limited production volumes. Without regular and sufficiently large-scale production, it is more difficult to fully benefit from these experience gains. A company that produces little or irregularly takes longer to improve its performance.

The stability of the economic environment also plays a role. Frequent disruptions, difficulties in accessing energy or financing, or high demand volatility can hinder this learning process. Continuous and predictable production is often necessary for productivity gains to materialize.

The learning effect thus reminds us that competitiveness is not built solely through one-off decisions. It accumulates over time, through repeated production, corrected errors, and improved methods. It is often in this repetition that part of economic transformation takes place.