Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/57707
rarely have the backing of venture capitalists; they often start with nothing, and they improvise their approaches as they go along. They build very small businesses, leverage those into something else, and then leverage those into something greater. I now teach a course at Columbia called "Entrepreneur- ship in Africa." For half the course, my students and I explore the effects of increasing investment in African business by venture capitalists and private equity funds; for the other half, we study successful entrepreneurs who need more access to these kinds of funds. Last summer, I traveled to Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania to interview 15 entrepreneurs, all of whom started with nothing. Over ten to 15 years, each of these individuals built enterprises with revenues in the tens of millions of dollars. My students are writing case studies about seven of these individuals to gain a greater understanding of what makes entrepreneurship in Africa work. In speaking with these entrepreneurs, I found one thing to be clear: They have a huge interest in management education. They and others like them will drive demand for management training in Africa. For their enterprises to grow and develop, they need to go beyond the single entrepreneur who has his hands in everything; they need to adopt more delegated management structures. But until the region's management talent catches up with demand, find- ing people with the management skills to carry out those delegated responsibilities will be very difficult. That's why I became involved with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and its case study project. The project had a twofold purpose. First, the organiza- tion wanted to make more locally relevant, high-quality teaching materials available to improve the teaching of management in Africa. Second, it wanted to help faculty become better educators, to teach them to turn from a traditional lecture style to a participant-centered style of education that incorporates more discussion, debate, and hands-on experience. As business educators, we can contribute to Africa's development of its management education institu- tions. In return, we can develop and broaden our own understanding of our disciplines. So many African businesspeople have become masters at coping with uncertainty. They keep their options open and adjust to changes in circumstances. That's a fundamental trait of successful entrepreneurs everywhere. It's also not a bad skill for business professors. By studying African business and learning what it takes to succeed in that context, professors can keep their teaching skills flexible and relevant to the uncertain and rapid development of global business. ■ z BizEd MAY/JUNE 2008 49