Shaping Africa’s future through entrepreneurship

Regardless of the lack or poor funding, insecurity, poor infrastructure, unfriendly regulatory environment, corruption, and political instability, many African entrepreneurs have defied the odds to stay put and pursue their passion, while unfortunately, some others have fallen along the way.

The present is looking better than the past though, and the future is laced with promises, hope and optimism for growth, development, and expansion in areas of population, infrastructure, businesses, the economy, and problem-solving tools for better performance.

The importance of entrepreneurship in Africa cannot be overemphasized despite several factors militating against its growth. Africa has proven that it is not backing down on the current road to greatness, the continent only needs to increase its speed and support its own.

While there are many older people who have laid the foundation for entrepreneurship to thrive, the younger entrepreneurs continue to grow in numbers, and the innovation they are bringing is solving problems that are not just particular to Africans, but fit for global needs.

Entrepreneurship has contributed immensely to growth in Africa by creating several jobs. Today, both in the formal and informal sectors, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) employ over 80 percent of Africa’s workforce.

More than one in five working-age Africans has started a new business and more than three-quarters of the youth are planning to start one within five years. With the right intervention, more people will venture into entrepreneurship, more jobs will be created, and the gap between the rich and the middle class will be reduced.

Entrepreneurs found innovation that continues to create a shift from traditional practice to modern-day practice. They develop solutions to local problems, improving lives and communities. Also, SMEs contribute significantly to Africa’s GDP, and by extension, contribute largely to economic growth.

However African entrepreneurs face numerous challenges, one of which is funding. Limited access to capital and high interest rates is a major problem affecting the growth of entrepreneurship in Africa.

Engr. Nnamdi Felix Unachukwu, the founder of Business Matters Incubators (BMI) Finishing School, said in an interview that “unless people will get a loan at a single-digit interest rate, it will be difficult to survive in an economy that is growing at less than 4%. You don’t give somebody a loan at 40% and expect that business to grow. So the policymakers should get it right with the exchange rate and interest rate”.

Poor infrastructure is also a thing. There are inadequate electricity supply, poor transportation networks, and weak internet connectivity. These basic amenities play vital roles in helping a business to succeed, and the lack of them impacts negatively on the business.

Many people believe in public and private sector participation and collaboration. This is why the government should provide an enabling environment and opportunities for people and businesses to grow.

Entrepreneurs also suffer an unstable and inconsistent regulatory environment caused by political instability. Complex and often contradictory policies imposed on businesses by the government affect their growth. Corruption, that is bureaucratic red tape and bribery, have forced many businesses to shut down; as well as insecurity and crime, affect business operations.

Amidst these challenges, African entrepreneurs continue to thrive. Many businesses have risen above the troubles to put their names and products at the summit.

For instance, M-Pesa, Kenya’s pioneering mobile payment system prides itself as Africa’s most successful mobile money service and East Africa’s largest fintech platform. Since it launched in 2007, M-Pesa can boast of over 10 million downloads only on Android and Google Play store.

Jumia, Africa’s first unicorn that started in Nigeria, and the pan-African e-commerce marketplace has spread across 10 African countries including Algeria, Egypt, Kenya and Senegal. Since its launch in 2012, Jumia has grown massively with over a hundred million downloads on Android and Google Play store.

Also, Andela, an American global job placement network for software developers, has grown by helping connect African talent with global opportunities. Many African techies have been connected with long-term engagement with international roles and gained access to competitive compensation, and career coaching through the Andela Learning Community.

Consequently, there is a need for more entrepreneurs to come into the ecosystem as government jobs are very few and cannot cater for the growing population. Also, the sky is big enough to contain everybody, and with entrepreneurship, many jobs are created and the unemployment gap is bridged.

But Felix Unachukwu is advocating for entrepreneurs to be discovered right from childhood and nurtured into success. He is concerned about the rate of crime in Nigeria today, and more worried about how young some of these perpetrators are. “We read about some young Nigerians getting trained on how to do fraud, the other day over 100 youths in their 17s, and 18s were recovered from where they were undergoing training for fraud. But if we train our citizens on entrepreneurship from a younger age like from 6 or 7 years old, we won’t be having a society like this.”

The Future lies ahead as Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem continues to evolve.

Technology has continued to improve as we see innovations in fintech, agritech, and health-tech. In areas of Investment, there is growing interest from global investors to put their money into African businesses.

Also, some countries are now simplifying regulations and reducing bureaucracy to ease the burden of running a business. The rate of talent development is high as many youth are now investing in education and skills acquisition.

No doubt, African entrepreneurship is redefining the continent’s narrative. Despite challenges, entrepreneurs drive growth, innovation, and progress. Embracing this momentum will unlock Africa’s full potential.