Many people have asked if I enjoyed life in Lagos. I certainly did, even though life is not easy there. Urban transport is one of the daily struggles. But I had it easy – my host Lagos Business School covered my needs. Afolabi, Henry, or another driver picked me up every day, took me to […]
Creating a Middle Class: The Role of Companies
A frequent comment in my interviews with executives from sub-Saharan African (SSA) companies has been, “What really drives this company is job creation… of course, we want to make money, and we do make money… but our real driver is to create employment.” I mentioned this in a previous post. But I want to bring […]
African Investment – Strategic Sectors
The CEO of an important financial institution in Kenya told me once, “If the head of the family isn’t well, then the whole family stops to look at this guy who isn’t well. Now if he isn’t well then the kids are not going to school, and if they aren’t going to school then their […]
Patient Capital
In an earlier post, I talked about a Kenyan bank that began operations in South Sudan in 2006. At the time, the country was just emerging from the war, and no bank operated in the country. The perspective of making profits in South Sudan was in the distant horizon for the Kenyan bank. But the management team […]
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Africapitalism: Capitalism with African Values
Africapitalism is not a play on words: it’s an economic philosophy developed by Tony Elumelu, a Nigerian visionary entrepreneur and philanthropist. His philosophy represents the private sector’s commitment to the economic transformation of Africa through long-term investment that generates both economic prosperity and social value. The Tony Elumelu Foundation promotes this philosophy through the Africapitalism Institute, one […]
