The Tony Elumelu Foundation
University Business School, one of the oldest universities in the
United Kingdom, co-hosted a day-long academic symposium on the
economic philosophy called “Africapitalism” at the Foundation’s
headquarters in Lagos.
Africapitalism, the belief that the private sector must play a leading
role in Africa’s development, is the economic philosophy first
developed by Tony O. Elumelu, back in 2010, and has been heavily
influenced by his long career as a banker, investor, entrepreneur and
philanthropist.
The primary goals of Elumelu’s Africapitalism mission are to promote
public policies that facilitate private sector growth, to educate
established businesses about how Africapitalist business practices can
enhance both profits and prosperity and to address the specific needs
of Africa’s emerging entrepreneurs as the best source of new and
inclusive local value creation.
“The purpose of today’s discussion is to explore the key issues
influencing Africapitalism as an economic philosophy from the
perspective and scrutiny of academia,” said David Rice, Director of
the Africapitalism Institute at the Tony Elumelu Foundation. “Years
ago, Mr. Elumelu developed this philosophy from the perspective of a
practitioner and his role as a banker, businessman, investor, and
entrepreneur. Now his Foundation is supporting the rigorous,
independent analysis of Africapitalism’s merits.”
Several distinguished faculty members from Durham University made
presentations to a diverse audience that included scholars, students,
business people and investors.
Participating faculty members included Prof. Geoff Moore, Chair of
Business Ethics and Deputy Dean; Prof. Mehmet Asutay, an expert in
Islamic Finance; senior lecturer, Dr. Emmanuel Adegbite, who spoke
about Africapitalism and corporate governance; and Mark Learnmonth,
Professor of Organizational Studies.
The day’s agenda was driven by Dr. Adegbite, who is a member of the
Africapitalism Research Project team, led by Prof. Kenneth Amaeshi,
who has appointments at Edinburgh University in Scotland and at Lagos
Business School.
“Africapitalism is in the early stages of development with respect to
academia,” said Adegbite of Durham University. “But we see the
transformative potential of this initiative and by applying our
rigorous standards of analysis, our intent is strengthen the concept
by putting it through its paces, just as we’ve done here today.”
The symposium is just the latest formal critique of Africapitalism
from global academia.
In June 2015, the first article on Africapitalism was published in a
refereed, peer-reviewed academic journal.
And in August, the Academy of International Business will further
explore Africapitalism’s merits during their annual conference for
scholars in South Africa.
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