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 […]
Entrepreneurial Energy
One strong impression I’ve gained during my trips to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is that the people are full of entrepreneurial energy. Even taxi drivers are constantly thinking about what kind of business to start. Colleagues who visit the continent regularly share this impression. Just watch Christian Staedler from Warwick University in a recent talk on […]
Regional Integration in Africa
Welcome back from the break! I took some holidays but also I attended a couple of conferences. One of them (the meeting of the Academy of International Business sub-Saharan Africa Chapter) took place in August in Johannesburg (Jo’burg to friends). It was a fantastic opportunity to share ideas with scholars and business people based or […]
