Africa's Private Sector: What's Wrong with the Business Environment and What to Do About It
Publication Info
Publication Type
CGD Experts
Articles
- Economy a Major Focus of Clinton's Africa Voyage (National Public Radio)
- A Renewed Focus on Africa? (Kojo Nnamdi)
- Lin roundtable: The Value of Stock Markets (Economist Blog: Free Exchange)
- Africa at the Threshold (Reuters: Great Debate)
- What's Wrong with The Business Environment (This is Africa)
- Africa Could Slide Back into Poverty (Marketplace Radio)
- Lacking Electricity, Africa Can Leapfrog to Solar and Other Renewables to Meet the Demands of Its Business Sector
- World Bank Power Projects: Crossroads on Renewable Energy (Slide Show Commentary)
- Solar Power for the Lamps of Africa: World Bank and IFC Back a Bright Idea
Events
- Africa’s Private Sector: What’s Wrong with the Business Environment and What to Do About It
- Africa's Economic Growth: Past Lessons and Future Prospects
- Global Poverty Roundtable: Power and Roads for Africa
- Development, Trade and Labor Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Can Public-Private Partnerships Help Stop AIDS in Africa? Lessons from Botswana
- Engaging Africa: Washington and the Fall of Portugal’s Colonial Empire
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Vijaya Ramachandran, Alan Gelb, and Manju Kedia Shah
03/23/2009
An essential read for all struggling with the challenge of stimulating private sector–led growth in Africa. Vijaya Ramachandran and her co-authors provide the right big picture for the donor community, with a sharp focus on the most important constraints to growth and the right solutions.
—Jeri Jensen, Managing Director for Private Sector Initiatives, U.S. Millennium Challenge Corp.
This book is a breath of fresh air that should be read by all development economists and policymakers.
—Guy Pfeffermann, former Chief Economist, International Finance Corp. (World Bank)
Why is the private sector yet to take off in much of sub-Saharan Africa? Drawing on a unique set of enterprise surveys, Vijaya Ramachandran and her co-authors identify the biggest obstacles: inadequate infrastructure (especially unreliable electricity and crumbling roads) and burdensome regulations. They then show how ethnic minorities dominate the private sector in many countries, inhibiting competition and demands for a better business environment, and thus impeding the emergence of an entrepreneurial middle class.
Based on this careful diagnosis, the authors suggest investing in infrastructure and reforming regulations to lower the cost of doing business, and increasing the access to education for would-be entrepreneurs to help foster the emergence of a broader-based business class that crosses ethnic divides.