Why Be An Entrepreneur In Africa

Africa is not going well, its entire economy is at risk, plus, Africa appears to be abandoned by the international community who’s looking at Africa dying. It is time for us Africans to fight against this scourge by providing an environment or a platform that’s conducive for the creation and development of small and medium businesses and attractive for foreign capital. We must not only train and educate continuously our workforce but also create markets by engaging in various business sectors.

Problems and challenges of Africa.
Africa is a continent full of resources, both material and human. With a population of over 1 billion inhabitants (2010), Africans account for 16.14% of the world population. But unlike the economies of other continents, the African economy continues to plummet. The share of Africa in world exports fell from 4.5% in 1990 to 1.1% in 2008 and foreign direct investments fell from 5.8% in 1990 to 1% in 2008, according to a statement from the FAO. The contribution of Africa in world trade is very low, and in permanent decline from 8% in 1990 to 2% today, and its exports are 80% oil, minerals and agricultural products. This is what makes Africa a continent totally abandoned in globalization.

In other words, Africa is going bad and it's all alone with his destiny. There are fewer foreign investors in the continent, thus exports are less and less possible. We must therefore start to take these problems more seriously and find ways to solve them by ourselves, ways that will enhance the image and status of African economy to attract new foreign investors. These are difficult and complex tasks; and to have any chance to succeed we must take action in a distributed manner, in fact each one has a role to play in this battle: politicians, governments, large, small and medium enterprises and each African.
Given that I am not a politician, I'll just talk about the private sector. How to change organizations, create jobs, impact the economic growth, have a solid and steady income by being an entrepreneur or business owner in Africa.

Why Entrepreneurship is a practical solution for these problems.
In general the first cornerstone for a flourishing economy is employment. But either in private or public sector, Africa is the continent where there is more unemployment in the world. Despite the proliferation of education and the increasing number of graduates, there are still not enough jobs for all fresh graduates, thus you will find graduated students doing hand labor like masonry or other jobs less lucrative, and irrelevant to their intellectual background. If Africa wants to get out of this mess, Africans we must step ahead and transform ourselves into entrepreneurs and create jobs, inspire and motivate others to do likewise, because at the end of the day, it is a work of mentoring, collaboration and sharing. Many others continents and countries have done this, and why not Africa?

Example of countries where entrepreneurship has been the solution to problems.
The current world economic prowess continually covers entrepreneurs whose successes opened new doors and contribute to finding new markets and new opportunities. The discovery of lucrative markets attracts foreign capitals that contribute to increase the brand and economy the country. Two examples of countries that were once poor just like us, but now have a rapidly growing economy: China and India. 

China: It is a country whose economy is experiencing a remarkable rise, with a system which promotes the growth of the private sector and attracts foreign investors. Globally, on average, the volume of Chinese exports rose by 14% between 1990 and 1999, and by 20.5% between 2000 and 2008. Imports grew a bit slower: 13% per annum during the 1990s, and 16% between 2000 and 2008. China generates about 9% of world exports and 7% of world imports in 2008, against 1.2 and 1.1% in 1983. The presence of foreign firms on Chinese soil is largely responsible for the sharp acceleration in export growth.
The establishment of "market socialism" has established many factories in China, which has been called the world's workshop, because of the social dumping of its manufactory. China attracted the skilled workforce in coastal areas where they are located. Only 41% of Chinese exports come from enterprises fully Chinese. Today, 39% of exports from China are made by companies whose capital is one hundred percent foreign and 20% of exports are the result of partnerships between foreign companies and Chinese companies. China maintains its attractiveness for companies with cheap, skilled and docile workforce. That’s why China is the King in outsourcing.  

India: Like other BRIC states (Brazil, Russia, India, China), the Indian Union is emerging as a new major industrial country. In recent years, investment flows are increasing rapidly, up 25 billion dollars in 2005, but $ 66 billion in 2006. In 2007, India is the 12th largest economy with a GDP of $ 1,171 billion or 2.15% of world GDP (World Bank, GDP 2007). Among all sectors (agriculture, industry, service), the computer services industry is one that stands out and supports a dramatic increase in recent years.
The service environment is very important in the economy, with employment of millions of people to sustain the production of software, hardware, advanced data capture and high technology. The advantage for multinational companies like IBM, to expand and settle in Indian Territory, is again the low cost of workforce compared to other countries.

Synthesis
With these two examples, we can see that it is possible to move from the current status of the African economy, to a growing economy with attractive and lucrative markets for foreign companies. These markets can be in primary sectors like agriculture, fishing and mining, as well as in some secondary sectors such as banking, transportation and information technology. Private companies more than public companies are those catalyzing economic development in these countries. Hence it is great time for us as Africans to create businesses, train young people in all business sectors in Africa in order to have a skilled, not necessarily cheap, workforce for foreign investors. The capital and energy to invest depend on the type and size of the business to create.

What is important to remember is that we can all take action and do something in our level, there are sectors that require little financial and human resources for their launches, the technology and informatics industry is one of those sectors. Indeed, India, China and Brazil are currently well ranked on the world market by offering such services.


In my next articles, I will propose a list of the different sectors of interest in, with details and tips that can help and guide you to success as an entrepreneur in Africa.

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