Seeking for a relevant and contextual approach to economic development, an entrepreneurship model for Africa

Abstract

Africa as a continent occupies one fifth of the earth’s land surface but possesses the largest natural resources on the earth’s surface. The continent is endowed with large deposits of coal, iron ore, asbestos, copper, gold, diamonds, uranium, emeralds, silver, chromium, cobalt, crude oil, quartz, aluminum, zinc, nickel, and platinum, to say the least. Together with this are large fresh water resources that labyrinth the continent pouring their contents into the inland lakes and oceans that surround the continent. The arable land is full of flora and fauna that attracts millions of tourists from around the world who pay large sums to see what the African takes for granted. Yet, the continent is home to millions reeling under chronic poverty, under nourished and under fed with unprecedented high levels of illiterate, unskilled, economically underdeveloped and unbankable populace. The Asian Tigers, China, India and Latin America have emerged as shining stars on the path to sustainable development, but Africa, the storehouse of natural wealth, lingers behind. This paper argues that the failure of Africa is a result of the failure of African leadership to come up with policies and programs specific to the context of the continent. Africa needs sustainable empowerment of the disadvantaged chronically poor millions that languish in poverty on the continent. The model suggests a developmental policy that uses “deliberate structures” to “deliberately empower” the indigenous African as fundamental to the economic development of the continent. Entrepreneurship as a developmental vehicle is modeled to provide in-built-solutions to the 21 causes of the failure of businesses. A model of projectised entrepreneurship using Africanized colonial resources is constructed with special emphasis on South Africa and its unique past. This will be supported deliberately by increasing start-ups at a reduced failure rate in place of perpetual handouts.