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Introduction

Africa—what does the word bring to mind? For some, it conjures up images of animals migrating across the Serengeti and safaris to see lions, elephants, giraffes, rhinos. For some, it evokes the harsh memories of poverty and war. For some, it stirs up feelings of reverence as it is the birthplace of mankind. All of these are part of the picture of Africa, but for businesspeople today, Africa means opportunity. Africa, especially now, is open for business.

Some years ago, any survey outside of Africa would likely have found that the words most commonly associated with Africa were “war”, “disease”, “poverty”, “starvation” and the like, all words with negative connotations. Africa was often described as the “forgotten continent” or the “dark continent”. Today, this is no longer the case. The new descriptors for Africa are “open for business”, “African lions” (referring to successes of countries and businesses), “African solutions for Africa”, and so on. The world’s view of Africa has changed over the past decade and there is a new, or renewed, interest in Africa for positive, rather than negative, reasons.

This is one of the reasons we chose to write this book. This book provides a research-based, and practical, understanding of African leadership styles and what is effective in Africa. Africa is a large continent with many countries and cultures, as we will emphasize time and again, and here we provide both a broad picture of Africa and a more detailed look at the diversity of specific countries. The insights contained in the book will be valuable for African leaders, managing in Africa, and for African managers interfacing with non-African counterparts, as well as for foreigners going to Africa. This is indeed a new look at leadership that will be invaluable to anyone studying Africa or working with African counterparts. A primary audience for the book is business and management students. A secondary audience is managers, managing in the African context—both local, African managers and those from other countries who have a major interest in Africa.

The chapters draw on the extant research on African countries, and this is used to provide a context for, and a picture of, effective leadership in Africa. The book’s primary authors are not domiciled in Africa and in many ways they provide an “outsider’s” view of Africa. This is complemented by the input of the many coauthors who live and work in Africa, who provide an “insider’s” view. In addition, the various country chapters include comments from “insiders” and “outsiders” regarding their practical, real-life experience of leadership effectiveness in each of the countries. These commentaries provide a practical, experienced view to add to the picture provided by the research reviewed in the chapters. In this initial chapter, we aim to give an overview of Africa, from a business and management perspective.

This book fills an important gap in the literature. Most of the literature focusing on leadership is from a Western perspective and does not provide sufficient knowledge of the factors that contribute to leadership effectiveness in the African continent and the African diaspora. This book considers leadership from an Afro-centric perspective and answers questions such as: (1) What are the components of leadership from an African perspective? (2) How does culture impact leadership in Africa and the African diaspora? (3) What are the similarities and differences between leadership in Africa and the African diaspora? This book contributes to the literature by understanding the role of culture and its impact on leadership. The book is built around the Leadership in Africa and the Diaspora (LEAD) research project that examines leadership in various African countries as well as the African diaspora (note that there is a chapter which discusses the LEAD project in detail). It begins by examining today’s Africa, which is open for business, as well as the culture of Africa and how these affect leadership in Africa. The next section examines leadership in various African countries as well as the African diaspora in the USA, Canada, and the Caribbean. It concludes by synthesizing the material throughout the book and considers the exciting idea of mankind’s birthplace as the new frontier for global business.

The book draws on global research that includes African countries, such as that including Hofstede’s cultural value dimensions and the world value survey, the GLOBE leadership work, Littrel’s preferred leadership style research, and the LEAD research project. It also draws on indigenous studies of leadership and management undertaken by African scholars, including African concepts such as Ubuntu and the Talking Tree. This research-base will ensure that the material provided in the book is evidence-based. This material will be presented in a way to make it easily accessible to managers and practitioners.

The book also includes anecdotal material from academics and managers within Africa and those who have worked in African countries. Personal experiences, combined with empirical research, give a well-rounded sense of the reality of leadership in various African countries. The main authors, Terri Lituchy, Bella Galperin, and Betty Jane Punnett are not African, but they have worked closely with many African colleagues. They recognize that they are “outsiders looking in” and they complement this through the many coauthors for country chapters, and through the comments of Africans providing the “insiders looking in” reference point. One feature of the book is inclusion of information on the African diaspora, which ties in the diaspora’s values, beliefs, and preferences to those of African countries. The African diaspora has received very little attention in any literature, and we believe this is a unique contribution to the literature, and one that readers will find attractive.

Although the book’s title is LEAD: Leadership Effectiveness in Africa and the African Diaspora, we acknowledge that it is impossible to cover all of Africa. Africa is a very large continent with many countries, only a subset are covered in the book. The countries covered are those of most interest to businesspeople, as well as those where there is extant, although limited, research. The authors do not attempt to cover countries where there is no existing leadership research.

Due to the impressive size of Africa and growing importance of the African continent, there is a need for books on Afro-centric leadership. If businesses and NGOs are to be successful in Africa, their managers need to understand the realities of Africa, and various African countries. This book is intended to provide such understanding. The insights contained in the book will also be valuable for African leaders, managing in Africa and for African managers interfacing with non-African counterparts. Our intent throughout the book is to identify similarities and differences across African countries and to compare African countries with various other countries and regions. We use the similarities and differences to highlight and explain leadership styles and practices that are likely to be effective in the African context.

Africa’s New Reality

In order to explore leadership in Africa, and various African countries, it is important to recognize that, as with so many topics, the extremes are not necessarily the reality; instead, reality is usually somewhere in-between. Today there are still many parts of Africa where war, disease, and poverty remain, and in the past, there were parts of Africa that were doing well. Africa is a very large continent, encompassing more than 50 countries. One list of countries in Africa (Countries of the World, 2016) identifies a total of 54 countries, but other sources (Answers Africa, 2016) caution that it is not entirely clear the absolute number of territories that can be considered as countries. Nevertheless, it is safe to say that there are many and varied countries making up the African continent. These range from large countries, such as Algeria which accounts for about 7 % of the landmass to small island countries, such as Seychelles, consisting of 115 islands along the continent’s eastern coast. Egypt is also considered an African country, and belongs to the African Union (AU) although part of its territory is in Asia, and statistically it is often considered with the Middle East. Africa is the second largest continent in the world, measuring over 11.5 million square miles (over 30 million square kilometers), with a population of over a billion. The Economist has published maps of Africa, attempting to illustrate its true size, showing that China, India, Japan, Mexico, the USA, and Western Europe could all fit into the African space at the same time. These maps have been questioned, but they do serve to reinforce the fact that the African continent is very large. (The Economist, 2010). The following data lists the countries of Africa, with their respective nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in US$ billions in 2015 and their GDP per capita, latest figures available.

A listing of African countries in order of their nominal GDP in 2015 puts Nigeria as the largest economy overall in terms of nominal GDP, at USD billions 568.508 with South Africa second at 352.817 (see Table 1.2 in the Appendix). The smallest economies are Sao Tome and Principe at 0.335 and Comoros at 0.648. These numbers are a reflection of factors such as physical size, population, resources, and investment. What they clearly indicate is the large variation around the continent in economic size and strength. GDP per capita is a better indicator of the level of wealth or poverty in a country. GDP per capita, as illustrated in the table also varies substantially. It ranges from quite high, 15,543.2, in the Seychelles and 18,918.3 in Equatorial Guinea to very low, with some countries under 500, including 255.0 in Malawi, 286.1 in Burundi, 358.5 in the Central African Republic, 427.4 in Niger, 448.3 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 457 in Liberia, and 484.1 in the Gambia; other countries, such as Somalia (542.6), Eritrea (544.5), and Ethiopia (573.4) are just over the 500 level. According to the World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth is projected at an average of 3.7 percent in 2015, down from 4.6 percent in 2014. In spite of this slowing of Africa’s biggest economies, the GDP was projected to grow at an average of 4.4 percent in 2016 and 4.8 percent in 2017 (World Bank, 2016)

It is the size and variety that in many ways makes Africa an attractive place to do business. Africa is rich in natural resources, such as diamonds, salt, gold, iron, cobalt, uranium, copper, bauxite, silver, and petroleum. It is a large producer of cocoa beans, as well as a variety of woods and tropical fruits. It is known for its large animals and is home to the great apes, elephants, giraffes, lions, rhinos, and many more. Parts of Africa are well-developed tourist destinations, other parts are virtually uninhabited wilderness. Kaberuka (2010) wrote in a McKinsey Report that, because Africa was among the fastest-growing parts of the world between 2001 and 2008, with average growth of 5.6 percent a year, businesses were interested in capturing the opportunities generated by this growth environment. He said that growth was partially stimulated by a commodity boom, but stable macroeconomic conditions and structural reforms, privatization of state-owned enterprises and lower barriers to competition, all contributed to the impressive growth. In addition, inward foreign direct investment increased substantially, more than tripling during the period, including inflows from the Gulf countries and from both China and India.

Opportunities in Africa

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Africa rose from $2846 (US millions) in 1990 to $50,041 in 2012 (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development [UNCTAD], 2013). FDI in 2012 was 17 times greater than in 1990. Clearly investors have seen Africa as an attractive place to invest, and many African countries have been interested in attracting outside investment. Businesses have woken up to the reality of African opportunities. This has meant an influx of non-Africans into Africa and ever-increasing interactions between non-African and African managers.

There has been increasing interest in Africa as a place to do business over the past decade. This chapter explores the reasons for this interest. The chapter outlines the current levels and trends in trade and investment in the African continent. It focuses on those countries where there has been greatest interest. The chapter also considers the sources of investment flows into Africa and the benefits and concerns about these flows. A particular focus is on China’s growing relationship with Africa and how this relationship impacts on broader geopolitical relationships. The chapter also considers Africa’s outward investment and how this is expected to grow over the coming years.

Throughout the chapter (and the book), we make every attempt to provide the most up-to-date and comparable figures available. Readers will note, however, that sometimes the information presented is as much as five or more years old, and that figures may be presented for different years for different countries and transactions. Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, because information is taken from many and varied sources, and these sources do not always have recent and complete information available. The information provided gives an overall picture and sense of the realities of Africa today, but anyone doing business in Africa will need to seek more specific information to guide his or her strategies. This is especially true for individual countries, as what is true generally for Africa as a whole, may not be the case for a particular country, at a particular time.

Why the Interest in Africa?

Interestingly, one reason for the current interest in Africa seems to stem from the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) growing interest and growing investment in Africa. The PRC’s need for resources to fuel its own growth has made Africa very attractive to the Chinese. The rest of the world has heard of the Chinese interest, and now it looks as though the countries and regions of the world are vying to compete with the PRC in Africa.

It is true that China’s involvement in African countries has been growing dramatically in recent years. According to the Xinhua News Agency (2012) trade between China and African countries reached 163.9 billion U.S. dollars in the first ten months of 2012, up 20 % year on year, and China’s foreign trade with African countries was expected to hit a record high in 2012 as a result of favorable trade policies, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Investment also increased substantially. In 2012, the Chinese ambassador to South Africa said that at the end of 2011 China’s cumulative FDI in Africa exceeded $14.7 billion, up 60 % from 2009. Aid is also an important component of the relationship between China and Africa (Brautigam, 2009). A noteworthy point is that China’s foreign aid to Africa is increasing as a percentage of total aid that China provides. In a 2011 white paper, aid to Africa in 2009 made up 45.7 % of China’s total aid, while from 2010 to 2012 the share for Africa climbed to 51.8 %, a 6.1 percentage point increase and it is the largest among all regions (Sun, 2014).

More recently, the PRC has been moving to more manufacturing in Africa. According to Wonacott (2014) the Chinese, faced with rising labor costs at home and negative perceptions about their employment practices in Africa, have been setting up new factories on the continent and hiring more Africans. These companies’ efforts will test whether the masters of low-cost manufacturing (the PRC) can be as productive in Africa as they are in China. In 2011, China’s investment in Africa was still dominated by mining (30.6 %), but manufacturing accounted for 15.3 % and was growing. Other important sectors were finance (19.5 %) and construction (16.4 %).

These figures for the PRC in Africa need to be considered in relation to figures for other countries and regions. In 2009, total global aid to Africa was in excess of $34 billion and China’s share was relatively small, about $1.5 billion or 4 %. The European Union (Ancilleri et al., 2014) claims to be Africa’s most important trading partner, and that Sub-Saharan Africa was the largest recipient of European Union (EU) development funds, receiving 20.5 billion euros in 2009. China‑Africa trade has grown rapidly since 2000, but interestingly, it remains relatively balanced with African countries both exporting to and importing from China.

The numbers relating to China and Africa are also questionable. David Shinn (2012), the former US Ambassador to Ethiopia, said that he believed that no one, including officials in China, knows the reality of China’s investment in Africa, and that it is not even clear how FDI is defined by China. He commented further that China’s ambassador to South Africa had reported that investment of various kinds exceeded $40 billion, among which $14.7 billion was direct investment but did not explain the difference between the various kinds of investment. Nevertheless, it was clear that most of the investment has gone into energy, mining, construction, and manufacturing. In spite of these concerns with the figures, most experts conclude that investment is substantial and growing.

In the next section of this chapter, we provide some information about the positive realities of Africa for those interested in doing business there. This is followed with some of the more negative realities.

The Positive Realities of Africa

Africa’s economy has been growing rapidly. According to UNCTAD (2013), GDP for all of Africa, in US$ millions, was $557,503 in the period 1996–2000 and in the period 2007–2011 it was almost three times that at $1,569,472. GDP grew 44 % from the 1996–2000 period to the 2001–2006 period and 96 % from then to the most recent period. This puts Africa’s GDP at a similar level to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, whose total GDP is $1,633,163. The ASEAN countries include the “Asian Tigers” that were the economic wonders of the world a decade ago. Some African countries are likely to be the “African Lions” or “African Elephants” of the coming decades.

Africa’s rapidly growing economy provides many opportunities for businesses. This is true simply because increasing GDP means that most people have more money to spend on goods and services. It is particularly true in Africa, because the growth is from a very low initial standard. The poorest people now have the means to buy basic necessities. Many people have become what we might term middle class, and they now want more of the goods and services that improve lifestyles. The rich can afford more luxuries. The opportunities in Africa therefore span a very wide spectrum, from providing access to battery recharging for the poor through refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers and the like for the middle class to designer clothes and fancy cars for the rich.

As noted, Africa is very large. The map produced by The Economist that was mentioned earlier was intended to demonstrate graphically the enormous size of the African continent. At over 30 million square kilometers including adjacent islands, it covers 6 % of the Earth’s total surface area and 20.4 % of the total land area (Nations Online, 2016). Africa, as of 2013, is home to 1.033 billion people according to World Population Review (2014), second only to Asia. The geographic size of Africa has both positives and negatives for businesspeople. On the one hand, it represents a continent of enormous potential. On the other hand, there are many countries within the African continent, and each is different, so “doing business in Africa” means understanding many different environments. Throughout the upcoming chapters we emphasize this reality.

Africa is also very diverse, as we continue to emphasize. Its countries range from very small, the Seychelles at about 45 square miles and 70,000 inhabitants, to very large, Algeria with about 200,000 square miles and 2.3 million inhabitants. Formerly, Sudan was considered the largest country in Africa, but this has changed now that it has split into North and South Sudan. GDP per capita, as a measure of individual spending power, also ranges substantially. According to the World Bank (World Bank, 2016) in 2010, Equatorial Guinea’s GDP/capita was just over $36,000 (based largely on oil production) while Burundi’s was about $300. Countries also differ in terms of factors such as geography, history, language, political systems, and religion. This diversity provides opportunities as well as challenges. On the plus side, diversity means that a business can find a niche for just about any product or service. On the down side, it means that it’s important to analyze each country as a different environment—doing business in Africa is doing business in many different and distinct countries.

Africa is generally resource rich. The Chinese have been well aware of the benefits of exploiting Africa’s resources to help fuel their own growth. For some, this has been a mutually beneficial relationship, allowing African countries to gain from foreign investment while the Chinese access the resources they need. According to Mikva (2015), its mineral deposits make it one of the richest natural-resource-laden places on Earth. Botswana relies on diamonds for a major part of its GDP; the Democratic Republic of Congo is estimated to have more than $24 trillion worth of untapped raw mineral ore deposits; South Africa (in addition to diamonds and gold) is the world’s largest producer of chrome, manganese, platinum, vanadium, and vermiculite, and the second-largest producer of ilmenite, palladium, rutile, and zirconium; Namibia has a wide array of mineral resources and its 46 % of the continent’s uranium brings in nearly a quarter of its annual income; Guinea produces more than 95 % of Africa’s bauxite, and in 2005, was the only African producer of alumina—it is critical to meeting world aluminum demand. As these examples illustrate, natural resource availability is a major reason why foreigners are interested in Africa.

Africa is generally a “young” continent in terms of population, with the working age population about two times that of the non-working age population, and expected to grow to three times by 2050 (African Development Bank, 2012). There are substantially high proportions of populations under the age of 55, and few people over 55. This varies from country to country, but it is generally true across countries. The following data (African Development Bank, 2012) compare population by age for the World, the USA, and several African countries (selected randomly) (Table 1.1):

Table 1.1 Comparison of several African countries with the World and USA: Percentage of total population
Full size table

These data show clearly that the African countries have substantially younger populations than the world as a whole, and the same is true of a comparison with the USA. The USA has 28.4 % of its population over 55, while the African countries are as low as 4.8 % (Zimbabwe) and overall those included above are at 6.2 %. The USA has about 70 % under 55, while African countries are closer to 95 %. A young population means many people available for work, especially at lower levels in organizations. In much of the rest of the world, especially the developed countries (such as those in North America and Europe, as well as Japan) and China, populations are ageing, retiring, and becoming unable to work as productively as before. This can mean a shortage of willing and able new labor force entrants. This is not the case in Africa. A young population may have disadvantages as discussed in the next section, but a clear advantage is access to a large number of employees.

Africa has been the source of many new, innovative, and creative products and services in recent years. Partly, this is because Africa’s lack of infrastructure has forced people to develop different and alternative approaches to overcome environmental limitations. Cell-phone banking, “personal” bankers coming to people’s homes, creative uses for solar, and so on. There are many positives about today’s Africa, and these positives provide opportunities for business people seeking new and growing prospects. These positives should not mean that we overlook the negatives.

Some Negative Realities of Africa

It is particularly important for those considering doing business in Africa to be very conscious of the challenges associated with Africa. It is unfortunately true that when we hear news of war, it is often in the context of African countries and the same is true of terrorist attacks. In early 2014, as this chapter was initially being written, the following were all on the news:

  • The Central African Republic was involved in a civil war. Christian militias in the Capital had attacked Muslims and forced an exodus of virtually all Muslims, who feared for their lives.

  • South Sudan was at war, engulfed in widespread killings that had largely broken down along ethnic lines. It was estimated that thousands had been killed in six months of fighting and about one million had left their homes. There was also an on-going border dispute with its neighbor Sudan, and questions as to whether Sudan was supporting the rebels in South Sudan.

  • In Nigeria 300 school girls had been kidnapped and it was feared that they might be sold. There were several other major attacks by the Boko Haram group, including one in Northeastern Nigeria that was reported to have killed 300 civilians. Boko Haram is a fundamentalist Islamic group whose name translates loosely as “Western education is forbidden/a sin”. They operate mainly in the northeast of Nigeria, but have links with other groups, including al-Qaeda.

  • In northern Uganda and South Sudan, the Lord’s Resistance Army (technically a Christian group) was still at large. This group’s infamous leader, Joseph Kony, is well known for many reputed atrocities, but particularly the use of child soldiers.

As of March 2016, the Nigerian girls had still not been found and Boko Haram remained a threat, illegal migrants from Africa continued to flood to Europe, too many dying on the way, Egypt and other countries have experienced terrorist attacks, southern Sudan is still at war, and drought and starvation are faced by many across the continent. Africa may be open for business, but there are many problems to be solved and challenges to be overcome.

Many people in Africa remain poor and youth unemployment is relatively high. The earlier discussion of GDP/capita of the countries of Africa illustrated the poverty that is the reality of many African countries. Even where GDP/capita is relatively high for Africa, income disparities mean that there are a few wealthy people and many people who are poor. Even with a growing middle class and growing incomes, many people live essentially at a survival level. Poverty and youth unemployment has resulted in outward migration, often using illegal routes, which can be dangerous. In so far as African migrants can find a better life elsewhere, this can imply a “brain drain”, with better educated and more desirable people moving away from Africa. This may make it more difficult to find appropriately qualified managers and employees in Africa.

Poor infrastructure is also a challenge in many parts of Africa. Airports are older and not well kept; the same is true of ports and shipping facilities. Roads are limited and city roads, overcrowded. Educational and health facilities and resources are sometimes minimal. These infrastructure limitations can make doing business in Africa more difficult. These limitations need to be examined to understand the impact that they can have on a particular business or strategy, so that accommodations can be made to deal with them.

Corruption has long been seen as a problem in Africa, and continues to be so, although many countries are attempting to change the attitude that corruption is a norm. Corruption in this context generally refers to extra, “under-the-table” payments being necessary to get business done at all, and to ensure that business goes smoothly. Payments can range from small payments to immigration and customs officials to millions of dollars to government officials to ensure decisions go in your business’ favor. Transparency International prepares a Corruption Index that rates countries in terms of corruption. The index relies on several different sources and is generally considered a reliable reflection of reality in different countries. In their 2014 map of the world, virtually all of the African continent fall within the corrupt range. Somalia is rated at the bottom as the most corrupt country. Eritrea, Libya, South Sudan, and Sudan are all in the bottom ten. Only Botswana, Cape Verde, the Seychelles, and Mauritius scored in the top 50. Wages in African countries are relatively low and officials may rely on “extra payments” to make ends meet; law enforcement may be lax in terms of enforcement of corruption regulations and people take advantage of this. The expectation of extra payments is a difficult issue for managers who are asked to make these payments and companies need to have policies in place to guide managers.

When we discuss the negatives associated with doing business in African countries, there is a tendency to allow these to overwhelm the positives. This is partly because outside of Africa, the continent has long been seen as the “dark continent” and news reports of African countries have emphasized war, terror, starvation, illness, deaths from migration, and the like. In reality, if we talked about any country or group of countries, there would be negatives that could be identified. In Canada, it could be the poverty of the aboriginal people, their high rates of suicide and lack of education. In the USA, it might be the high rates of gun violence, with more than 32,000 deaths attributable to firearms in 2011 (Gun Policy, 2016), of which 11,000 were homicides. In Europe, in 2014, the near civil war in Ukraine could have far-reaching consequences for NATO countries, as well as Russia and its allies. In Thailand, one might identify the fact that it has had the highest number of military coups of any country; in the Caribbean, the new introduction of mosquito-borne diseases; in Turkey, continuing demonstrations; in Colombia, drug smuggling; and so on.

Businesspeople do not avoid these countries or regions because of problems they may face in these locations. Rather, they use the information about the problems to ensure that they plan for them, and mitigate the risks. In addition, forward-thinking businesspeople assess the disadvantages to look for opportunities. A story has been told for decades of two shoe salesmen going to Africa in the early 1900s. One returned and said, “they don’t wear shoes, so there is no opportunity”. The other returned and said, “they don’t wear shoes, so there is a huge opportunity”. The second one got very rich selling shoes in Africa. Similarly, today there are many such opportunities. There are entrepreneurs, both local and foreign, making fortunes by taking advantage of what Africa lacks. The following examples are based on BBC radio reports over the past two years. Many smaller villages do not have electricity but crave modern entertainment. One entrepreneur goes from village to village with a solar-powered ice-cream machine and DVD player—playing movies and selling ice cream to the local residents. Another group has developed a modular solar system which begins by providing energy for one light at a cost that is lower than people previously paid for kerosene. As households save enough money, they can add to the system, with other lights, cooking equipment, even entertainment. Wind-up radios were originally developed for parts of Africa that had no electricity, and now they are sold in North America and Europe for camping and emergencies.

The previous examples illustrate that apparent negatives can be the basis for developing successful business opportunities. Of course, the positives provide even more opportunities. As noted earlier, the improving economies in Africa mean that there are opportunities across the spectrum, ranging from products and services for the very poor to ones for the very rich.

Outward Investment

Over the last decade, the outward investment picture has changed, from being dominated by the developed world to one where developing countries are playing an ever bigger part. According to UNCTAD (2013), outward investment from developing economies reached a record level of $460 billion in 2013. Combined with $100 billion from transition economies, these outward flows accounted for about 40 % of global FDI. African countries shared in this, even though their investments are relatively small. According to UNCTAD (2013), between 1990 and 2008, outward investment from Africa rose from $650 million to $9309 million. The numbers vary from year to year and from country to country. In the 2008 report, Algeria and Libya accounted for much of the outflows. This would certainly have changed today. Nevertheless, we can expect that as African countries become better off, and benefit from inward investment, they will themselves look for investments outside their countries, and outside of the continent. Foreign businesses who establish a presence in Africa can work with their African counterparts to succeed in Africa as well as to help the African businesses succeed outside of their home countries.

Summary

This chapter has introduced the idea that Africa is “open for business”. African countries’ economies are growing and foreign businesspeople are increasingly seeing Africa in a positive light. We have discussed the opportunities that are opening up in Africa and we also pointed out some of the challenges that businesses face in African countries. Understanding the opportunities as well as the challenges help managers make the most of the opportunities while dealing with the challenges. The forecast for Africa for 2016 is not as positive as it was a few years ago, but expectations are for continued economic growth, as well as increases in trade and investment. We believe that Africa as a whole, and many specific countries continue to be exciting from a business perspective. This means that understanding effective leadership in this context is critical so that businesses can be successful. It seems clear, from the discussion of Africa as the new frontier for business, that understanding the cultural environment of African countries and the essentials of effective management in this context is valuable for African managers and for those outside going to Africa, as well as managers working together. The intent of this book is to provide a better understanding of these issues to contribute to more effective leadership around the African continent. The upcoming chapters of the book provide specific information on these issues.