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 […]
A new era of indigenous entrepreneurship
I came across a short article by Ronald Coase (1991 Nobel laureate in economics) published at the Harvard Business Review a few months before he died, aged 103, in 2013. The article is a delicious call for economists to re-engage with the (real life) economy. I want to focus on just one sentence in the […]
Locating a business in Africa: how much of a hassle?
Different countries offer different travel and living conditions. This has an effect – identified as the “hassle factor” by professors Andreas Schotter and Paul Beamish from the Ivey Business School in Canada – on companies’ decisions to locate their operations in a particular country. Not all countries are the same in Africa, and the hassle […]
Ebola and malaria: some facts
Many friends and colleagues have told me they’re relieved that I’m back from Africa. The Ebola outbreak kept them worried about me – even though I was in safe areas. While in Nigeria, my friends there were alarmed when one night I got several mosquito bites – even though I was taking malaria pills. I do […]
Healthcare in Africa
Healthcare in Africa has a long way to go. Rich and poor, we all want to have quality healthcare. However, not everyone has equal access to these services. While those Africans who can afford it travel abroad to get the treatments they need, others die because they can’t be diagnosed on time or receive the […]