Building Multi-Generational Multi-National African Tech Corporations – Africa.com
Eric Osiakwan – Eric Osiakwan Featured
General Electric, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive and other industry leaders have been around for more than a century and remain competitive in their respective markets. Today, we investigate why such entrepreneurial feats are rare in Africa, and why less than one percent of businesses started on the continent outlive their founders. First, African entrepreneurs rarely have the long-term vision to build businesses that can last for generations and expand to multiple African countries or become global leaders. Second, even if founders have such a vision, they often lack the planning and execution capabilities to dominate a pan-African niche, let alone a global advantage. The planning and development of regional, multi-generational businesses is the bane of African founders and, to a lesser extent, contemporary African tech founders.
In this article, rather than classic predictions for 2025, I will present my hypothesis on how a tactical combination of these building blocks can create and operate strong African tech businesses that will remain competitive in 2125 and beyond Force – I won’t be there then, but that’s the whole idea. I have a hunch that the time may be right for tech founders who are currently building the digital economy to build multi-generational, multinational tech businesses in Africa. The most important evidence is the paradigm shift from “leave Africa and explore greener pastures in the West” to “I can build the next Facebook or Google in Africa” – that’s visionary. This paradigm shift embodied by contemporary African tech founders is at the heart of a megatrend—a shift away from the consumption of Western technologies toward the creation of technologies such as solar, crowdsourcing, and mobile money—that solves key issues here and can compete with Western Competing with, or in some cases outperforming, Western rivals.
The second piece of evidence is that this generation of Millennials has developed technical skills and business knowledge through formal or informal education without a background or generational history in tech entrepreneurship. Today, most African tech founders are new to their business areas and, in some cases, have no family entrepreneurial history, technical knowledge or business experience. Witnessing a generation of young lads dreaming big and then waking up from that dream with the passion, skill and drive to exceed their abilities – all in the space of one generation – is nothing compared to the generation before it. It’s unbelievable.
Some of these bold young people dream of building multinational technology businesses that will survive and remain productive for current and future generations – can they do it? My answer is “maybe” because it always starts with a vision and the will to make it happen. One example is that of Kenyan founder Ken Njoroge and his Nigerian partner Bolaji Akinboro. fiber agent based on their collective vision and plan scrawled on a napkin in a café in 2002. According to the World Economic Forum, “Even 15 years after starting the business, Ken Njoroge still puts vision front and center in everything Cellulant does. In fact, he and his Nigerian partner and co-CEO Bolaji Bolaji Akinboro sets his goals before he is 100% sure of what kind of business he wants to achieve them through.”
Ken and Bolaji set out to build a pan-African business, partly because one was from West Africa and the other from the east of the continent. Furthermore, they plan to build a business that will outlast their existence on earth. Today, after 22 years of operations, Cellulant is a leading fintech company in 35 African countries and has processed approximately $40 billion worth of digital payments. Both Ken and Bolaji have exited the business to start new ventures with the founding team, and there is now a second generation of leaders and team running the business. Cellulant has cultivated a generation of technology founders known as the Cellulant Mafia. Tech Safari’s Caleb Maru chronicles Cellulant’s story.
Finally, what tailwinds are blowing across the continent that could help these tech founders? The first is the African Common Market created by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which is similar to the European Union and aims to gradually eliminate tariffs on intra-African trade. The African Continental Free Trade Area is the free trade area with the largest number of member states, second only to the World Trade Organization. The African Continental Free Trade Area is also the largest in terms of population and geographical area, covering 1.5 billion people and estimated to be worth $3 trillion, according to McKinsey.
In this common market, a technology-consuming middle class continues to grow. The most enthusiastic consumers of mobile network solutions are the emerging middle class, which according to 2011 data from the African Development Bank Group (“AfDB”) has 313 million people, accounting for 34% of the total population. This middle class spends an average of between $2 and $20 a day. The African Development Bank predicts that by 2060, the number of African middle class will increase to 1.1 billion, accounting for 42% of the total population. This means that 33% of Africans live below the poverty line.
The AfCFTA and World Economic Forum 2023 joint report states: AfCFTA will accelerate intra-African trade, develop regional and local value chains, create new business dynamics and provide investors with access to a population of 1.7 billion, with combined business and consumer spending reaching US$6.7 billion by 2030.
With intra-African trade and consumer spending expected to grow significantly, the African Continental Free Trade Area provides a solid foundation and enabling business environment for African tech entrepreneurs seeking to build multi-generational African multinationals.
