Egypt was fairly industrialized for an African nation, I can be sure of that, during the Victorian Age. Problem was that Ismail Pasha, the khedive who modernized the country, also ran it into the ground in terms of debt, leading to more instability. Egypt wasn't exactly independent, but it was de facto, and might have completely split away from the Ottomans in a timeline.
I have to say that Ethiopia kinda got away only by luck and terrain. I don't see how a Zulu state would have modernized, though it was independent.