IS ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION ALIEN TO THE AFRICAN INTELLGENTSIA

It is not uncommon to read from Eurocentric authors that the concept of entrepreneurship is alien in the traditional Bantu society and to the African culture in general. the above-mentioned assumption is based on the demonstrable lack of indigenous entrepreneurial classes and a dynamic private sector that is predominately African. This assumption is also coupled to the overwhelming dependence on foreign investors by Sub-Saharan Africa governments, who are advised by big Western University educated Africans to assume the role of entrepreneur through ill conceived state enterprises that are unproductive and poorly managed by political lackeys and ruling party loyalists.

There is also a perception, or an almost religious belief by Africans that entrepreneurship in general and big business in particular is a sole preserve of non-Africans. Modern Africans who are highly educated tend hero worship Western culture and consumption practices without attempting to emulate and adapt and implement Western ways of doing things in their respective countries. Most Africans, educated and also illiterate, tend to think that the introduction of business activities in Africa, and in the Black society in particular came about as a result of contact with Western culture. (See contrary views on 'The African Entrepreneurship Experience' Part 1-3 above).

The African intelligentsia in particular has a propensity to boast about their academic qualifications from big Western universities as opposed to boasting about tangible and epoch making achievements or innovation. It seems that theory and practice is divorced and unrelated as far as the African intelligentsia is concerned. Proof: since independence two generations ago, not a single Western educated and so-called African intellectual/ scientists have made attempts to find a solution to the biggest life threats in Africa, namely the mosquito and the tsetse fly. Or a better tool to replace the traditional hoe that been in use by african peasants to till the soil for centuries. How can Western African mechanical engineers and scientists be so hopeless in comparison?

By contrast, the Harvard or Oxford educated Western and Eastern peers of the African intelligentsia have made numerous significant achievements for the past decades both as innovators and entrepreneurs. Today we use the internet- which was conceived by predominately western based Harvard university students- almost exclusively for communication and business. Unfortunately, there is nothing of significance that has been conceived by Western big colleges or Harvard educated African brothers. There is a direct and visible lack of confident and independent thinking from Western educated (outside the African borders) African brothers.

As you finish reading this article, the Harvard educated Western peers of the Africans will have raked in a few millions into their bank accounts by using ideas they read from the same text books the African intelligentsia only boast about. How ironic.

Africa is beckoning with great opportunities waiting to be exploited.
Western educated brothers please stop boasting about your degrees. Put them to real use, and boast about life changing ideas you have put on the table. Be innovative. Become the next big thing. Better, become the next millionaires through practical ideas.

By P .Ngcamu