A new movement is sweeping Africa, led by black business tycoons, entrepreneurs of African descent with a strategic vision of the continent’s development through entrepreneurship assistance. They lead a silent revolution that crosses the continent from east to west and from north to south. Their names and faces appear on the covers of economics journals and magazines and they are special guests of major international summits: G20, the Davos Forum, etc. The most visible faces of this concept include Aliko Dangote, Patrice Motsepe, Mo Ibrahim, Yérim Habib Sow, Mohamed Oud Bouamatou, and Jean Kacou Diagou; but if there is anyone who stands out more than the others, it is Tony Elumelu.
Tony Elumelu is a Nigerian economist, businessman and philanthropist. He currently chairs Heirs Holdings, the United Bank of Africa, and Transcorp. In 2010, he founded the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which has a mission to create pioneering projects to support entrepreneurship in Africa. This program is open to citizens and legal residents of all African countries with companies established in Africa that are less than three years old, including start-ups. To date, they have received nearly 200,000 business applications from more than 100 African countries and assistance has been provided to nearly 3,000 companies that have received online training for 12 weeks. This assistance also includes advice from an international mentor. To date, more than 13 million euros have been invested in capitalization.
“Africapitalism” is a halfway concept between business and philanthropy. This is not the African version of capitalism, as many might assume; its key feature is that it shows that it is both necessary and possible for entrepreneurs and society to prosper simultaneously. Entrepreneurship is therefore the central component of African capitalism and a defining feature of market liberalization in Africa. This movement is allergic to the continued renewal of international aid and cooperation, proposing instead to invest these funds in sensitive economic areas to support agriculture, renewable energy and small and medium-sized enterprises. Africapitalism is encapsulated by the Chinese proverb: “Give a man a fish and he will eat today, give him a cane and teach him to fish and eat for the rest of his life.”
