Can Private Investors and Entrepreneurs Transform the Continent?
In the past, business in Africa behaved like a “caterpillar” — uninteresting, slow moving and easy to step on, according to Eric Kacou, managing and regional director for Africa at OTF Group, a U.S.-based consulting firm focused on emerging economies. “The most blatant fact about Africa is that despite a vast amount of natural resources, we have very little to show for it,” Kacou said at the Wharton Global Alumni Forum in Cape Town, South Africa. Today, however, the continent is poised to enter a “cocoon” phase, he added — a metamorphosis in business that requires a “new mindset” relying less on natural resources and more on innovation and private sector growth. Kacou was among the speakers on two panels — one taking the investor’s view and the other featuring grass-roots entrepreneurs — that looked at business as a means for improving Africa’s economic and social realities. The first panel, “Business as the Engine of African Economic Development,” was moderated by Wharton finance
