Welcome back after the break! When I came back from Africa, one of my colleagues at IESE told me: “Africa, you’re re-energized!” Indeed, I am. One of the energy shots came from meeting the CEO of a leading bank in Kenya and East Africa. His approach illustrates that thinking long-term pays off in Africa. To the […]
The challenges of internationalizing in East Africa
If you are an Africa connoisseur (or if you have followed this blog), you will know that Africa is not a single entity. And neither are African regions: not all countries in one region are the same. This is more obvious in Western Africa where the anglophone/francophone distinction is immediate. It may be less obvious […]
The informal economy
Several African business leaders have warned me that we foreigners may easily misunderstand some clues that are critical for business. In particular, we may easily miss the role that the informal economy plays in most African countries. Official statistics may be misleading as they don’t include informal economic activities. Let me give you an example. […]
Pan-African Banks: Turning Around a Bad Reputation
Unfortunately, when we think about Nigerian banks, what immediately comes to mind are those e-mails we’ve all received requesting a transfer to an obscure account. However, not all Nigerian banks are alike. Following a privatization and liberalization period, a process of industry consolidation started in 2005. A capital requirement was imposed of naira (N) 25 […]