By Olakunle Agboola – Too many minds are anchored on the notion of Africa as a place of need. To create sustainable prosperity, we need to revisit the lens through which the continent is viewed.
Africa is a continent of 54 distinct countries with their own histories, languages, victories, strengths and opportunities. It is expected that these countries formulate their own visions and strategies, as well as commit to proper execution. Every African must believe that their country has an equal human right to prosperity as governments on the continent set out to unlock Africa’s vast potential.
To create prosperity in Africa, we must find a way to start solving core problems. For example, Henry Ford created prosperity when he devised a new method – the assembly line – to mass-produce cars and make them more accessible to the non-wealthy. Production efficiency was paramount to achieving that goal.
Just like anywhere else, the most successful industries and service providers in Africa are those that solve local problems. Typically, they are local companies that focus on providing needed, context-appropriate solutions. Take M-Pesa, a mobile payment service started in Kenya by telecommunications company Safaricom. It was created in response to emerging-market consumers’ use of mobile phone airtime credit as a proxy for money. This consumer behaviour was turned into a product – M-Pesa – to send and receive money instead of airtime credit. It quickly morphed into a way to pay for goods and services. Dubbed the “world’s most successful money transfer service”, it is now offered in more than 10 countries, including two, outside Africa.
However, developing such creative solutions often requires upfront investments. Africa needs access to appropriate capital to create these business solutions. As such, the global perspective of business has to shift allow appropriate access to capital and better enable local entrepreneurs.
Business leaders across Africa must understand the responsibility of sustaining new prosperity. It can be as simple as the ability and willingness to see businesses grow across generations. Each generation should not have to start over, recreating businesses that once existed. In Ghana, for example, there used to be a number of manufacturing firms, including a radio assembly plant. A generation later, these plants no longer exist and the skills that could have accrued over the years are lost. The country has now established new manufacturing plants, which is a positive move yet could have been a next-generation story if the old factories were sustained.
Proper succession planning and handover will foster business sustainability and continuity. This will allow companies to innovate beyond their initial core product offering into areas that take advantage of their knowledge and skill base.
An encouraging example of this is the continuity established by Nyaho Medical Centre, which is currently run in Ghana by the second generation. It was the first private facility of its kind to bring together medical practitioners from different fields. Sustaining the business beyond the first generation has created the opportunity for innovation and expansion.
We must be deliberate about taking advantage of the growing skill base on the continent. Admittedly, search costs for talent can be high due to insufficient aggregation of data on people. Yet this too is a business opportunity.
Africa is not one place. Neither are its people monolithic. The creation of prosperity must be based on country-specific strategies that will complement each other and stand the test of time.
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