Africapitalism: Rethinking the Role of Business in Africa ed. by Kenneth Amaeshi, Adun Okupe and Uwafiokun Idemudia

Abstract

Reviewed by: Africapitalism: Rethinking the Role of Business in Africa ed. by Kenneth Amaeshi, Adun Okupe and Uwafiokun Idemudia Matthew C. Kolasa Amaeshi, Kenneth, Adun Okupe, and Uwafiokun Idemudia, eds. Africapitalism: Rethinking the Role of Business in Africa. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2018. In Africapitalism: Rethinking the Role of Business in Africa, editors Kenneth Amaeshi and Adun Okupe, at the University of Edinburgh, and Uwafiokun Idemudia, at York University in Toronto, support the new economic philosophy of Africapitalism (a term coined by Nigerian economist Tony Elumelu, who wrote the book’s foreword). Attesting to the relevance of Elumelu’s contributions and ideas, Time magazine named him one of the world’s one hundred most influential people in 2020. This creative and well-written interdisciplinary collection of eleven essays brings African voices from around the globe to the fore. Africapitalism, a uniquely African approach to developing economies, involves the interconnectivity of stakeholders, social welfare, and communities. It seeks to maximize profits while improving employee, consumer, and national outcomes with a sense of community and patriotism. The authors begin by assessing African economies. Underdeveloped institutions and industrialization pose a problem as developed countries enjoy distinctive advantages. Combine this with the stunting effects of extractive exploitation and colonialism and the odds are against African economies. Meanwhile, the well-meaning international development community fosters aid dependence. The authors posit while parts of Africa have nurtured capitalist classes and growth, competition from capitalist metropoles necessitate a new approach. Enter the new paradigm of Africapitalism. The authors argue that entrepreneurs must take the lead by bringing South Africa’s Ubuntu philosophy to business, introducing principles of progress, prosperity, parity, peace, and place. Africapitalism critiques crony capitalism and corruption in [End Page 220] favor of longer-term views of building society, workforce, and market. Far from a social inevitability, they argue leaders can mold capitalism’s character. The attempt to bring this Africa-centered approach to business is ambitious. In many areas, regulation has proven more convincing than patriotism, but one can work with the other, as fighting corruption can combine with a business strategy and grow into a deep-rooted indigenous variety of capitalism and management. An especially compelling chapter is Amon Chizema and Nceku Nyathi’s discussion of Chinese investment in Africa. As overcapacity and market saturation at home bring Chinese businesspeople to Africa seeking resources and low-cost opportunities, results are mixed. Chizema and Nyathi note while some welcome Chinese no-strings-attached investment as a sign of respect, others question whether this reflects Africapitalism or mere business calculus. Chinese enterprises hire majorities of local laborers but managers and specialists hail from China. While Asian development states deftly required local co-ownership and technology transfers to accompany FDI, African governments seldom make such requirements. The treatment of China in Africa is more nuanced than alarmist warnings or fawningly laudatory reports that typify the topic. Other chapters show the dynamism of Africapitalism. Lyal White and Adrian Kitimbo provide a case study in “Good African Coffee: Adding Value and Driving Community Development in Uganda.” Significantly, the authors explain why so few businesses like it exist. Challenges seem insurmountable: cost of entry, access to credit, skilled labor, infrastructure, limited overseas connections, and stereotypical suspicion of African businesses plagued the project. Given these difficulties, the book’s thesis would be more convincing if it could provide more case studies highlighting the success of Africapitalism. Stella Nkomo puts Africapitalism in context in the last chapter. She acknowledges Africapitalism is more pre-paradigmatic ideology than mature theory. Nkomo predicts the path forward will not be easy as homegrown change requires asking “how to create something new, unfettered from what has always been positioned as the universal” (276). While the authors emphasize the diversity of sub-Saharan Africa and the need to look at different regions differently, the book nonetheless opens itself to criticism. Africapitalism has parallels in earlier continent-wide movements like African socialism. Africapitalism relies on Ubuntu, an influential South [End Page 221] African philosophy, but the authors assume Ubuntu applies across Africa. Can one approach apply to Nigeria and Malawi? Future research must assess Afri-capitalism’s generalizability. Although the book leaves questions unanswered, that is the...