Abstract:

When thinking about Sub-Saharan Africa we often only think about its challenges. Spanning 54 sovereign countries, trading and travelling within Africa is cumbersome and costly. However, there are huge opportunities for businesses at the same time. The rising population – by 2025, it is estimated that 1 in 5 persons of the world population will be African – and the subsequent need for increased infrastructure due to trends such as urbanization will create new business opportunities. For example the rise in demand for power is one of these opportunities. In 2015 a person in Sub-Saharan Africa (excl. South Africa) consumed only about 3% of the energy that a person in Spain consumed that year. The demand for power in this region is set to increase significantly in the future.

Leadership models can support businesses to navigate through Africa’s challenging environment, which is complex, ambiguous and uncertain. Leadership models, however, need to take culture into consideration in order to be effective. African culture differs significantly from “Western” culture. On the Hofstede 6-D model Germany, for example, scores 67 in the dimension on individualism while a country like Mozambique scores 15. This drives behaviours that leadership needs to recognize and work with.