Launched in 2005, Enterprise Africa! is a research project that investigates, analyzes, and reports on enterprise-based solutions to poverty in Africa. The project is uncovering some of the hidden success stories in Africa- stories of people and policies that make a difference in the lives of Africa’s people today. In essence, it documents African solutions to Africa’s problems. These success stories involve intrepid, committed entrepreneurs across the continent who are developing an amazing array of businesses- from small-scale shops to multinational corporations- and the institutions that support them. These entrepreneurs are promoting economic growth and are an unheralded key to poverty alleviation. Enterprise Africa! is a joint initiative with the Free Market Foundation of Southern Africa and the Institute of Economic Affairs of London, England.

African Tragedies, African Opportunities.

While most regions of the world witness increased standards of living, better health care, and greater economic opportunity, Africans continue to face famine, wide-spread disease, high levels of political corruption, and war.  Consequently, Africa has grown poorer with each passing decade since gaining its independence.  Although examples of good growth and sound institutions exist across Africa, the billions of dollars spent by western governments through large-scale foreign aid programs seem to have made little difference to the lives of ordinary Africans. Increasingly, there is recognition that Africa is in need of a new vision of development.

Poor leadership and poor ideas have made poor people even poorer.
The facts are tragic: 

• There are more poor countries in Africa than in any other region of the world.
• There are fewer free countries in Africa than in any other region of the world.
• There is little foreign direct investment.
• While sub-Saharan Africa has just over 10% of the world's population, it is home to more than 60% of all people with HIV/AIDS.  In 2007, an estimated 1.5 million Africans died of the disease.
• Under-five child mortality rates are highest in Africa, with approximately 174 children out of every 1,000 dying from disease and armed conflict.
• There is less gender empowerment in Africa than in other regions.
• There is a tremendous amount of armed conflict.

Despite this formidable challenge, the great hope for Africa lies with its people.

Unsung entrepreneurs are quietly erasing – at the micro level – devastating problems of poverty in some of the poorest places in the world. This fresh perspective – that the solutions to world poverty are not to be found in international aid bureaucracies so much as in the hearts and hands of the world’s poor themselves–is being developed and substantiated in order to provide policy makers and  opinion leaders with new information about which institutions hold the most promise for Africa by supporting enterprise-based solutions to poverty.

In Africa, local enterprise has been the most successful solution to poverty to date.  Whether in the growing textile industry in southern Africa, the flower trade in Kenya, fish processing in Senegal, or tourism in east and southern Africa, Africans who enter the world market and trade are finding ways to lift themselves and their communities out of poverty. 

Some African leaders recognize that trade is the true path to prosperity.  In Botswana, Mauritius, South Africa, and Kenya, trade volumes are rising and entrepreneurs are creating new opportunities for people.  These relatively successful countries serve as beacons for the rest of the continent, showing what is possible, and also offering examples of effective public policies – policies that enable entrepreneurship, property ownership and stewardship, and that help strengthen local communities and civic life.

Better still, even in the most oppressed African countries, there are good examples of persevering entrepreneurs working at the local level.  This suggests that even in the worst of situations, the potential of the human spirit and free enterprise is strong.

Today, Africa is the development challenge.  The potential for human flourishing in Africa is enormous and the possibility of realizing the benefits of Africa’s people lies with Africa’s people. 

The Focus: Profiles in Entrepreneurship

Enterprise Africa! seeks to uncover the hidden successes that are making a difference in the lives of Africa’s people today.  Through this, we hope to demonstrate that solutions need not be imported from abroad, but only unleashed from within the continent.

Enterprise Africa! is uncovering enterprise-based solutions to poverty through extensive on-the-ground field work in Africa.  Here you can find information on each of these case studies as well as related publications.

Research Methodology

Our methodology is guided by our distinct analytic framework, which is best described along three dimensions: Analytical narratives, comparative institutional analysis, and ethnography.