Entrepreneurship and Business Development in Africa
African economies have been growing in the last 10 years and several African economies were part of world’s five fastest growing economies. Today, Africa is seen as the next frontier for global trade and competition as theirs increasing interest from foreign companies to focus on Africa. The US Prosper Africa initiative providing businesses and investors with market insights, deal support, financing in Africa; the China Road and Belt Initiatives seeking for infrastructural investments in Africa and accessing Africa’s natural reserve; the recent EU Financing for Africa; the covid-19 pandemic and reconfigurations of global value chains to source and relocate manufacturing operations to Africa; the current Russia-Ukraine war and need to strengthen EU ties with Africa and the Africa’s natural resource reserve of alternative energy sources all point to the strategic importance of Africa in the future global value chain and investment destination.
Furthermore, companies are entering African markets not only for raw materials and natural resources, but to establish sales, manufacturing, and outsourcing. The liberalization of African markets has allowed local entrepreneurship to boom. We also see tremendous amount of Africa’s diaspora investments into Africa, social entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial ecosystems within and outside Africa driving investment initiatives, funding, and support for sustainable investments in Africa leveraging innovative and technological solutions to leapfrog the deficiencies in Africa’s infrastructure.
While the interest in investing in Africa is rising, the know-how of business on the continent is very limited. This summer school aims to equip students, expatriates, policy makers and entrepreneurs, knowledge of the diversity, economic development, and economic potential of selected African countries, and how to evaluate them in terms of their market potential, and how foreign firms, SME’s and social entrepreneurs enter these markets and develop innovative products and solutions and the critical role of understanding Africa business culture in the success of these ventures.
The course provides critical thinking & analytical skills, cross-cultural competence, cultural adaptability skills, strategies for doing business in Africa, opportunity sensing and identification in Africa and management skills in Africa context. The course looks beyond aid and negative perceptions of Africa and focus on facts and prospects when thinking about business in Africa.
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Dates
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23 - 28 July 2023
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Location
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Groningen, the Netherlands
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Level
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BA/MA/PhD/Postdoc/Practitioners |
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Fees
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Participant fees (Other students): € 350 Fee (UG and ENLIGHT universities): € 300 Third party fees (practitioners, other): € 750 |
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Academic coordinators
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Dr. Nnamdi Oguji |
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Contact |
dbif@rug.nl |
This course is designed for people with interest in doing business in Africa. Emphasis on students, entrepreneurs, expatriates, and institutional stakeholders
It is expected that the participants have a sufficient command of the English language to actively participate in the discussions and to present their own work in English.
After this course you will be able to acquire:
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Critical thinking & analytical skills
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Strategies for doing business in Africa
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Cultural adaptability skills
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Cross-cultural competence
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Management in Africa
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Opportunity sensing and identification in Africa
Workload
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Preparatory work: 10 hours
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Presentation: 5 hours
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Lectures: 30 hours
Upon successful completion of the programme, the Summer School offers a Certificate of Attendance that mentions the workload of 45 hours (28 hours corresponds to 1 ECTS). Students can apply for recognition of these credits to the relevant authorities in their home institutions, therefore the final decision on awarding credits is at the discretion of their home institutions. We will be happy to provide any necessary information that might be requested in addition to the certificate of attendance.
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Date |
Topic |
Learning outcome |
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Monday |
Africa as a market area |
Understand Africa as a market area and indictors and mega-trends driving investments in Africa and how foreign firms develop regional and country-level strategies in exploiting these markets |
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Tuesday |
Business opportunities and challenges in doing business in Africa |
Understand different theoretical approaches to conceptualize business opportunities in Africa, challenges of doing business in Africa and innovative solutions leapfrogging these challenges. |
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Wednesday |
Business culture in Africa and Implication on expatriate assignment, HR practices, and doing business in Africa |
Understand the critical role of African culture especially, how African culture impacts cross-cultural communication, time management, HR policies, organizational culture, and management practices in Africa. |
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Thursday 27 July 2023 |
Entry motives and entry strategies into Africa
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Understand entry motives and entry strategies of foreign firms entering Africa and unique strategies for doing business in Africa. |
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Friday |
Entrepreneurship and sustainable business models in Africa |
Understand different forms of entrepreneurs exploiting opportunities in Africa, different types of sustainable business models in Africa and role of internationalization networks (e.g., governments, NGOs, cooperatives, entrepreneurial ecosystems, crowdfunding etc.) in the success of these ventures. |
Dr. Nnamdi Oguji
Lecturer, University of Groningen
Dr. Nnamdi is a Lecturer of International Business at the University of Groningen and has a wide range of industry experience working in supply chain, business analytics, business development and leveraging industry 4.0 and big data analytics for supply chain reconfiguration and business insights. Dr. Nnamdi’s is an international business (IB) researcher with research interests in international entry strategies, emerging markets, international sourcing and supply chain and thematic areas of industry 4.0 and international business. Nnamdi has several publications in doing business in Africa and business-to-business marketing in Africa textbook.
Dr. Richard Afriyie Owusu
Associate Professor, School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University, Sweden
Dr. Richard is an Associate Professor of International Business and has wide international academic experience, having taught, and researched in universities in Finland, USA, Australia, and Ghana. Richard teaches business-to-business and international marketing courses at bachelor’s and master’s levels. He supervises PhD students and has also taught in Executive MBA programmes. Richard's research interests are within business-to-business marketing and international marketing strategy particularly in emerging and African markets. He has published research articles on, among others, entry modes and market development strategies in Africa, international project business, and corporate social responsibility in international supply chains in well-ranked international research journals.
Dr. Innocent Senyo Kwasi Acquah
Senior Lecturer, School of Business, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
Dr. Innocent Senyo Kwasi ACQUAH is a Senior Lecturer and Doctoral Programmes Coordinator at the School of Business, University of Cape Coast. He holds a PhD, LLM, MSc and Mcom in Supply Chain Management from the University of KwaZulu Natal, an LLM in Public Procurement Law and Policy from the University of Nottingham. He is a member of several professional bodies. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), UK and a member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, UK. He currently Chairs the Ghana branch of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply UK. Dr Acquah has teaching experience in his discipline at the bachelor’s, Master’s, MBA, PhD and Corporate Program levels. He is an expert researcher in Africa’s supply chain, procurement, logistics, management, and sustainability.
Guest lecturers
Several guest lecturers will provide expert voices in the field and their experiences of doing business in Africa. The following experts offer their insights.
Ernesto Spruyt
CEO of Tunga, a staff augmentation firm that sources IT talent in Africa for companies worldwide. He shares his experiences of Africa as a market area for sourcing talent and the megatrends shaping Africa.
Antonia Lorenz
Founder, entrepreneur, and designer of WAYA Clothing, shares her experiences in manufacturing and growing a fashion brand in Africa. She discusses he entrepreneurial journey, challenges, opportunities, the unique context of Africa, and the future outlook.
Thessa (Brongers) Bagu
Consultant and entrepreneur from the Netherlands with over 15 years of experience and special expertise in trade facilitation and business development. She moved to Nigeria in 2006 and (co)founded several companies. Thessa specializes in assisting foreign companies in expanding their footprint in Nigeria and other key African markets. She will discuss cultural issues in doing business in Africa and the cultural intelligence needed to successfully do business there.
Chigozie Ejimogu
Head of Sustainability at Verod Capital Management & Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures with expertise across the pillars of sustainability (environment, social, governance). Chigozie will discuss sustainable business practices in Africa: Evolution and Trends.
Vanessa Kisowile
Leads “She Found”, a social entrepreneurship supporting women entrepreneurs and women-led businesses in Tanzania. “She Found” provides personal and business development resources, skills, and opportunities to entrepreneurs. Ms Kisowile has also worked with different local and international organizations to support women in technology and business. She will talk about how to target social entrepreneurship to needy groups and how to run successful social entrepreneurship in Africa.
Fafali E. Amengor
Entrepreneur and Owner of SnS Legacy Company Ltd will talk about her strategies and experiences in the online African fashion business. Ms Amengor is a successful entrepreneur with customers in Ghana and internationally. She has extensive experience in African entrepreneurship, the challenges, and opportunities of online marketing.
Professor John Gartchie
Prof. Dr. Gartchie is the Dean of the Faculty of Business, University of Cape Coast Ghana and will be discussing impact investment/financing in Sub Sahara Africa as well as the legal framework for doing business in Sub Sahara African Countries
Dr. Jan Kruse
Dr. Kruse will share his experience as IJVs an important entry strategy into African markets.
Moira Alberts
Alberts will share her experience on Africa as a market area for renewable energy: Experiences and cultural challenges from a for-profit social enterprise in Namibia.
To apply, kindly fill out the online application form. Please note that you will be asked to upload the following documents:
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Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 pages)
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Motivation letter, clearly stating why you want to join this summer school, what you will bring to the school and what you hope to learn (max. 1 page)
The deadline for application is 30th of June 2023.
| Last modified: | 31 July 2023 1.11 p.m. |