Innovations In Emerging Markets

Transferring Business Skills to Africa

The transfer of technology to emerging markets is seldom in question today. The transfer of business skills is another matter. In Africa, business knowledge is at least as vital to help guide country economies, set up regulatory frameworks and create thriving businesses.

"Africa is in desperate need of qualified and talented management to help its economies, not only running companies but helping entrepreneurs and ensuring more effective corporate and legislative governance policy,"

a recent CNN Int'l article says.

The article goes on to say that qualified African managers can also help put together vital inward investment with policymakers, multinationals, and charities.

Efforts to raise standards has been garnering international momentum in the past three years with the creation of a network of global businesses and universities, dedicated to bringing management knowledge to Africa. An April conference in France, hosted by network participant Insead, on "Nurturing Business Education in Africa" is part of the efforts.

Petty Errands Inc. -- A Tale of Small Business Enterprise in Africa

When Stephen Kiruri graduated from university in Kenya, he had trouble finding employment. Family members and relatives kept asking him to handle their errands. So much so, that Stephen finally resolved to charge for his service -- which led to the birth of Petty Errands. Today, Petty Errands is one of the most successful courier services in Nairobi, and Stephen has been recognized as the “Most Inspiring Business Person” by Kenya Television Networks. Stephen's current decision is whether to continue the business on his own, or whether to sell a minority or majority stake to raise capital for further expansion.

The birth and growth of Stephen Kiruri's small business, along with those of other small firms, are now being captured in case studies shared across several African universities. They are serving as learning tools for Africa's small entrepreneurs seeking business knowledge through real-life “case studies”of small firms. In Nairobi, with IFC’s help, three universities --Kenyatta, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agricultural & Technology, and Strathmore -- have researched dozens of small firms and disseminated the results in Kenya and abroad.

The work is now being taken up beyond IFC by a consortium of universities dedicated to the dissemination of business knowledge globally.

For more case studies developed on small business experiences in Africa, click here.

For more information on the work of the international business school consortium dedicated to disseminating business knowledge in Africa and worldwide, click here.

Business Innovations Leveraged to Tackle Malnutrition

The World Bank Institute and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition are promoting investment in addressing malnutrition. They believe technological advances in recent years have helped to make food fortification one of the easiest and fastest ways to improve people's lives on a large scale and to accelerate development. And companies from industrialised and emerging market countries such as Unilever, Tetra Pak, Suneor, and Procter & Gamble agree.

At a jointly held global forum in New Delhi recently, Chinese, Indian, African, European, and North American businesses highlighted examples of innovative ways to produce and market better fortified products for poor consumers. The goal: tackle malnutrition and protect consumers from micro-nutrient deficiencies.

"I am interested in importing this technology to Bangladesh," said Rauf Chowdhury, Chairman of the MARC Group in Dhaka, while examining fortified wheat flakes and cereals from Nirmal, a Maharashtra-based manufacturer that produces food supplements for U.N. agencies and government school feeding programs.

Business Models for Food Fortification

"This is a unique opportunity to learn what other businesses are doing in the area of food fortification based on sustainable business models,"said an African businessman while tasting fortified Chinese cereals and soy sauce.

He then discussed with Tetra Pak representatives their integrated value chain model: food production, food processing, food distribution, and feeding programs. Tetra Pak supports government school feeding programs using fortified milk in China, Iran, West Bank Gaza, and Nigeria using fortified milk.

In another corner, Chinese representatives inquired about the process that made fortification of three key staple foods in Nigeria mandatory and what role the Development Bank of Southern Africa was playing in food fortification for development.

For more on GAIN, click here.

Malaria Losing Fight against Business in Africa

International aluminum producer BHP Billiton joined in an exceptional partnership with the governments of three African countries and with other businesses to take on malaria across the region. Six years later, the New York Times reports, malaria is losing.

Billiton's initiative began in its Mozal smelter in Mozambique, where one in three of their employees -- almost 6,600 cases in two years-- were affected by the disease. Billiton's example is being hailed by the UN as a model of private sector and government partnership. The key to the success of this model, observers say, is a partnership which mobilizes efforts regionally while matching resources to the scope of the disease.

Mozal represents a capital investment of $1.3 billion, making it one of Africa's largest enterprises. To be effective on a wide scale, the partnership model must involve companies that have a fraction of Mozal's financial and managerial resources. IFC is doing exactly that in the fight against AIDS.

Over the past few years, IFC has created partnerships with African companies under the IFC Against AIDS program. One of them is Mozal itself, for which IFC provided much of the financing. Other companies involved in the program are much smaller. The aim is to help smaller companies replicate Mozal's model and be as successful against equally devastating diseases.