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Encouraging business in Africa

Interview with Chris Gekonge, Editor of "Emerging Business in Africa"

By IGI Global on Oct 11, 2013
Contributed by Ann Lupold, Discipline Manager

Chris Gekonge of Doing Business in Africa Inc., USA, author of the IGI Global publication Emerging Business Opportunities in Africa: Market Entry, Competitive Strategy, and the Promotion of Foreign Direct Investments, recently took a moment to collaborate on an interview with IGI Global, discussing his recent publication and the future possibilities for the amazing continent of Africa.
Emerging Business Opportunities in Africa: Market Entry, Competitive Strategy, and the Promotion of Foreign Direct Investments

IGI Global: Tell us a little about yourself. How did you become involved in the study of business development in Africa?

Chris Gekonge: I was born in Kenya on July 30, 1943, being the eldest child in a family of nine. However, my father was a polygamist and he had 33 other children. I went to school in Kenya, Liberia, Britain, and Canada. My first degree was in economics. My graduate school and professional studies were in strategic management, supply chain strategy, financial analysis, and finance and accounting. I became a CPA (K) in 1982.

I worked in Kenya for 32 years as a supply chain strategist, corporate planning manager, auditing and investigations manager, and finance and accounting manager before going into business consultancy and counseling. I worked as a business consultant and counselor for fifteen years when I was a CEO of a consulting firm in Kenya, consulting corporations and counseling small business. The firm did business consultancy and counseling in the whole of East Africa. I immigrated to the USA in July, 2005, initially on a “J” visa status and later became a permanent resident. In the USA, I have worked as an adjunct lecturer at the Syracuse University and lecturer of management practice at Herkimer County Community College. Both institutions are in up-state New York. I have traveled extensively to many parts of the world including Europe, China, and India.

I have always been fascinated by the study of business and management since my college days, particularly during my graduate school studies. While studying, working, and traveling in Africa and to the other parts of the world, my interest in management intensified greatly. In Africa, I saw unemployment, poverty, and hunger face to face. I noticed the cost in human suffering from the weaknesses in leadership and governance in many African countries. My business consultancy and counseling experiences increased the understanding and an urge in me to make a contribution in solving the African problems, particularly leadership, management, and governance problems. I realized that writing well-researched articles and authored books will help me in this noble endeavor and in communicating my ideas to a larger audience, particularly to corporate managers and government and institutional policy makers. This is the foundation and birth of my book.

You are currently a researcher and consultant with Doing Business in Africa Inc. Tell us about this non-profit organization. What does it do? What do you work to accomplish?

Since 2006, I have attended the Doing Business in Africa Annual Conference at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. What I learned at this conference together with my experiences with the University of Syracuse’s quarterly outreaches to industry, in central New York, on doing business in Africa, I came to the realization that there is a great need to promote Africa and its business opportunities in the USA and the world. The image of Africa is not only poor but also low and negative, not only in the USA, but world-wide despite the achievements in African economic, political, and social development, particularly in the last two decades. Africa must develop and increase its soft power to sustainably improve its image globally. Soft power, of nations, is achieved through their books and movies, their sophisticated economies, their technological innovations, and, above all, through their attractive and inspiring national ideals.

As group of African scholars, researchers, and writers, we started the non-profit firm in 2007 in order to improve Africa’s image and make a contribution to its continued development. The vision of the firm is a well and fully developed Africa. Our mission is to promote all Africa – particular Africa South of the Sahara - here in the USA and encourage tourism into Africa and foreign direct investments in the continent by explaining the African situation and its abundant opportunities to potential tourists and investors. Our goals and objectives is to encourage at least 1000 tourists to various African tourist destinations a year and 100 investors by exposing them to the emerging business opportunities in the continent.

What have you found most interesting in your research of business in Africa? What are some of the most significant differences in their practices versus other nations?

The most interesting findings in my research of business in Africa include the great endowment of business opportunities in Africa, the compelling imperatives to do business in Africa, and the challenges of doing business in that great continent that is the origin of mankind. The opportunities are diverse and I believe that every inconvenience in Africa is an opportunity needing an innovative entrepreneur to exploit and make money. It is important to note here too that China – and its corporations - is extensively and intensively in Africa and closely followed by India in investment and exploitation of business opportunities. Other countries are going to be barred in entry to Africa by what scholars call "first mover" and incumbency advantages by China and India.

The significant/key differences, I think, in management practice between Africa and other nations include business attitudes and relational approach to managing business and issues. In their relational management practices, Africans are like Chinese with their Guanxi approach to business. – The reciprocal obligations in Chinese society. Every day, everywhere, everyone in China turns normal social interactions into transactional ones whereby reciprocal provision of goods and services is the norm. An African will find it difficult to deal with people they do not know well and therefore it takes time to engage in successful business until relationships are fully developed over family dinner or party. Another serious management practice in Africa today is persistent corruption and it appears that they have difficulties in dealing with corruption because they do not have strong legal and justice institutions to deal with corrupt people. There is corruption in other countries alright, but when a corrupt person is caught in these other countries like the USA, for example, he/she is immediately dealt with effectively because of a well-functioning and predictable legal and justice systems.

Tell us a little about your book. What are the most important issues addressed?

My book has been fifteen years in the making but more intensively in the last six years or so. My research on the various areas the book is covering started over fifteen years ago. While at Syracuse University, I used to research and write detailed articles on various aspects of African business and have them thoroughly reviewed by collegues and peers at the university and a friend who was a management professor at Utica College, a college of Syracuse university, based at the city of Utica. Two of these professors had considerable experience on Africa and the world generally having worked with IMF at some point in their careers. These articles eventually formed the foundation of the book.

The book has a foreword by Professor Arthur Frank of Drexel University in Philadelphia. It has eleven chapters, each focusing on a specific area of African business. Chapters one and two discuss Africa in geographical and historical perspectives. Chapter three discuses Africa in the global economy. Chapter four looks at the rising and compelling imperatives to do business in Africa. Chapter five looks at regional integration in Africa and increase or expansion of African markets through various regional integration schemes to enhance the production of globally competitive products and services. Chapter six discusses the enabling and specific opportunities in Africa, foreign direct investment perspectives, and the resources available in the USA context to exploit these opportunities by Americans and the sources of competitive pressure from China and India. Chapters seven and eight are on the entry and competitive strategies to successfully do business in Africa. Chapter nine focuses on the challenges of doing business in Africa and chapter ten is on a framework on how to overcome these challenges. Chapter eleven is a summary of the book and concluding remarks. The book has an abstract at the beginning of each chapter and detailed references and bibliographies at the end of each chapter. The book is targeted at scholars and researchers who want to do further research on African business; corporate managers who want to invest in Africa; policy makers in government and global development institutions, and the students of global strategy and doing business in emerging markets. It is a very good source book for upcoming entrepreneurs and management of small businesses

In your opinion, what do you see as the future for Africa? Will technological development encourage and promote new business?

In my opinion, Africa is a promising continent. It is the last frontier in the 21st century for creating value for stakeholders for corporations and entrepreneurs. It is a continent of emerging opportunities. Mrs. Clinton, former USA Secretary of State, confirms this as she vehemently appealed to the American people recently:


"I want all of my fellow American citizens, particularly our business community and entrepreneurs, to hear and appreciate this fact: Africa offers, and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future, the highest rate of return on foreign direct investment of any emerging and developing region in the world today”.

Mrs. Hillary Clinton, Former Secretary of State


Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times asserts further that generations of Americans have learned to pity Africa. It is mainly seen as a quagmire of famine, poverty, and genocide, a destination only for a sybaritic safari or a masochistic aid mission. However, I offer an alternative way to think of Africa: Africa is an economic dynamo with hard-working, tireless, and energetic people. It is time to prepare for the aggressive African economy. Six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies between 2001 and 2010 were in Africa, according to The Economist Magazine. The International Monetary Fund says that between 2011 and 2020, African countries will account for 7 of the top 10 spots in the fasted growing economies in the world. Africa is not just a place for safaris or humanitarian aid. Although, it has got the most beautiful and exotic safari destinations in the whole world. It is also a place to invest and do business and thus make good money for stakeholders.

Technology is a resource-liberator. New technologies will create business opportunities and liberate African abundant resources to create an abundance of products and services for the global markets. This is particularly true in Agriculture. With large aquifers of underground water, new agricultural technologies will help Africa to irrigate large tracks of land it has, more than any other parts of the world, to produce plenty of food for the world; the world that is fast running short of food, particular grains, vegetables, and fruits. This will not only create value for investors, but will also make Africa wealthier and thus improve the living standards of the African people.


Christopher Gekonge is currently a researcher and consultant with Doing Business in Africa Inc., in Philadelphia, PA. Doing Business in Africa Inc. is a non-profit organization that focuses on research and doing business in Africa. The organization does research and makes organizations and students aware of business opportunities in Africa and on how to enter Africa and exploit these opportunities.

His book, Emerging Business Opportunities in Africa: Market Entry, Competitive Strategy, and the Promotion of Foreign Direct Investments, released in September, presents the basic business modeling for developing appropriate strategies in exploiting these business opportunities in the emerging economy in Africa. This book offers insight into the challenges and successes aiming to encourage researchers and students of business in creating a value for doing business in Africa. Part of the Research Essentials Book Collection, this ebuted in the 2013 copyright year. Research Essentials aim to pack the same high-level research our audiences have come to expect from our more comprehensive publications, only in a smaller reference format.

Publications released as Research Essentials will offer a succinct discussion on niche topics in a wide variety of subjects. Sized and priced appropriately, these concise, advanced, and timely resources will be perfect for supplementary course usage, targeted towards instructors and students, as well as the independent researcher looking for the most recent and innovative research in their field.
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