Customer Reviews

Africa Rising: How 900 Million African Consumers Offer More Than You Think

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The strength of this book, which is my reason for giving it four stars, is that provides a positive perspective on Africa that stresses just how much innovation is underway there, a valuable counterbalance to the general bleak evalations of its economic growth, and that it adds to a major and, for me, vital shift in thinking about development and aid. It has a lot of weaknesses when it moves beyond its largely consumer market focus, however.

This is a marketing expert's book, written by someone with first-rate knowledge and a wealth of experience and corporate contacts. It challneges the old development community assumtions about the population in the undeveloped world being largely helpless, ignorant and adrift. That community mostly views its own capabilities as being wiser, knowing better and being more qualified to define plans and investments than they. Its priorities have been grand schemes, infrastructure projects and close collaborations with governemt and international agencies. I strongly recommend Easterley's demolition of this perspective in his book The Whte Man's Burden. Like Africa Rising, he argues for a bottom-up focus on giving local entrepreneurs the tools and limied help they need and will quickly exploit. There is a huge pool of entrepreneurial energy among small business owners, farmers, taxi drivers, entertainment providers and many others. Far from being lazy or ignorant, they are street-smart and energetic. Africa Rising shows plenty of instances, and also points to such multinationals as Unilver and Coca-Cola in stimulating demand and meeting widespread needs. The exammples are interesting and often striking. Nollywood, the rapidly expanding Nigeria-based (hence the "N")is a major producer of films, for instance, and the equal of Bollywood as a social force. Many of the book's examples come from the FMCG field -- fast moving consumer goods -- and the book shows many specific instances in beer, washng powders and househld items. As in all parts of the world, local mobile phone services are another growth area. New airlines are popping up around the region. The total market is an estimated $900 billion economy. The author argues, like Easterley, for Trade not Aid as the driver for growth.

Here, the book achieves its main goal: to provide a picture of Africa as opportunity and Africans as innovators and enrepreneurs. This is the four star element of the book. It is positive and changes how a reader sees Africa.

The weaknesses are when it moves to broader topics. There are too many cases that are really just claims, often from central government, that just do not hold up. For example, one comapny, RGC of Sierra Leone, is reported as having implemented a city-wide Wifi/Wimax service in Freetown (the other two cities are Taipei and Philadelphia. The evidence for this is the much-repeated and often word-by-word inclusion in articles of an RGC press announcement. It's more than dubious, as are the use of comparable paeons to intelligent campuses for software development, favorable comparisons with Singapore and Dubais infrastructure deveopments, examples of major successful government programs in education and many other modernization claims. These do not hold up to detailed exploration and a weakness of the book is its use of scattershot references from magazines and newspapers. The author frequently argues that Africa is in many areas ahead of and richer than India and China. This is not convincing without far more detailed analysis and statistical rather than anecdotal evidence. Many relevant topics are ignored especially the wider social realities of the rural/urban divide. It is a book with no real economic analysis. So, for instance, much is made of Highladd teas, a Kenyan estate that has built up its production and sales of tea. Well.... Kenya is the largest exporter of teas but the prices have halved wordldwide and machnes have displaced thousands of workers. Tea is produced by poor peasants -- the average daily wage is $1-2 in Kenya, China and India. So, yes, the HIghland example is a nice one but it is just that; it doesn't add up to anything beyond the story. While the author mentions in passing the problems of civil war, AIDS and governement corruption, they are the vague background in his opimistic portrayals. Zimbawe includes many small and resourceful entrepreneurs but what is ignored is the mass starvation that is part of the same street scenes and the hospital system is in collapse. The data presented on the wealth of Arica seems very skewed by aggregate figures that seem to be heavily weighted by oil revenues. Very, very little of that income gets passed to workers and to funding of real programs.

Overall, the book presents just a tiny part of a complex picture but it does present it well. It's heavily marketing-centered. It's weak on data and social/political/education/health issues. I disagree with at least half of its analysis and conclusions, which makes it useful in challenging me to shift my own picture and assumptions. This is why I recommend it. It offers a very different focus from alnost all the books I read on international development and my own writing on the topic shares his Trade not Aid viewpoint. This makes it a valuable contribution to the debate and a useful contribution that I wish my World Bank, UN and academic colleagues read.

So, four stars and a thank you to the author for shedding a new light on a topic critical for the future of us all. May Africa continue to rise!

Vijay Mahajan, author of The 86 Percent Solution: How to Succeed in the Biggest Market Opportunity of the 21st Century, and eight other titles brings us a wonderfully balanced view of Africa.

Decades ago, Mahajan, a US marketing professor from India predicted his home country's future success that we see today. Now, he does the same with "Africa Rising."

The author discusses how much of the world views Africa as a charity case, rather than a market opportunity with more than 900 million consumers. Various market segments are explored in this text, including: food, clothing, medicine, shelter, cell phones, bicycles, automobiles, education, water, and more. Colorful photos are also included. Such areas like the media, advertising, and entertainment [and Nigeria's booming film industry, termed, "Nollywood"] were also outlined with detailed examples of growth sectors.

This book is highly recommended for Africanists, Marketers, Entrepreneurs, Business Leaders, Students, and more. Some large firms, such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Guinness, have already taken full advantage of the African arena, with not only their products, but with clever advertising systems for repeat business and culturization.

As a Master of Business, I found this text to be truly enlightening, and hope that others will take part in the growth and sustainability of Africa's economy.

All my life, I have been reading and hearing about the plight of Africa. Wars, famine, plague, genocide, poverty and despair have always been the main news stories emerging from the continent since the end of colonialism. Two award-winning films about areas in Africa in recent years, "Hotel Rwanda" and "The Last King of Scotland" both dealt with genocidal regimes and the violent deaths of millions. Therefore, it was a great pleasure to read this book, which has a very positive message about the continent.
Until I read this book, I had no idea that ten nations on the African continent have a per capita Gross National Income (GNI) higher than the People's Republic of China (PRC) and an additional eight have a GNI higher than that of India. When you factor in that the PRC and India are considered to be emerging global economic powerhouses, then this is an incredible statistic. Given that the population of Africa is on average the youngest in the world, then there is a physical and economic dynamic that is almost unknown to the broad population of the westernized nations.
This combination means that there are incredible opportunities for opening new markets provided they are suitably modified to appeal to the local populations. Which are extremely diverse and sometimes very conservative. For example, marketing personal hygiene products to young women in Muslim countries is a very delicate issue due to religious restrictions. There is also the problems of political instability, lack of legal traditions, tribal hostilities and barriers due to limited physical infrastructure. Nevertheless, entrepreneurship will in most cases win out over what appear to be insurmountable odds, which is what is happening in Africa.
Clearly, there is an enormous and largely untapped market in Africa that can be successfully entered by anyone with the courage, intelligence, capital and knowledge of local cultural mores. This book will not give you all of these things, but it will show you how many companies and individuals are transforming the continent into a rising economic powerhouse. You will be impressed by the initiative and originally that is driving this movement.

This is a very useful book if you're interested in exploring the business opportunities in Africa. Mahajan makes a convincing case that Africa is an overlooked market that could be the next new frontier in business. While everyone else is obsessed with India and China, those countries are looking to Africa. Indian and Chinese investors have seen the rise of their home markets, and expect the same to occur in Africa. This alone makes the book - and Africa - worth paying attention to.

The point of the book isn't so much to systematically analyze Africa's economy or business opportunities on the continent, but rather to generate awareness and excitement over the investment opportunities in Africa. In this purpose, it succeeds brilliantly. He provides compelling examples of successful African businessmen and foreign investments in Africa.

The book is written in the style of many marketing books, which is generally a collection of exciting anecdotes but little thorough analysis. This can be fun and exciting but also misleading. I'm not always convinced that the anecdotes always translate into the broader reality. For example, he compares the investment potential Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa (NEKS) to the Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRICs). However, there are real concerns about political stability in the NEKS that simply aren't present when dealing with the BRICS (except perhaps Russia). For example, in Nigeria there are occasional terrorist actions against oil pipelines; in Kenya, election violence in 2007 and increasingly frequent mob lynching; and in South Africa, serious doubts about the new president Jacob Zuma. Imagine if India had elected an alleged rapist as prime minister rather than a former finance minister! I think Mahajan is right to point out the positive trends in the African market, but he should also have addressed some of these concerns to make his analysis more solid.

After reading this book, I invested in an Africa fund, which has already gone up 30-40% over the past few months! There are opportunities out there, even in this bear market.

This book has a great way of giving business a new perspective on how Africans are perceived in the consumer driven world. On one hand it is good to see Africa and Africans being recognized as more than third world hardship cases. On the other hand by putting them in the category of consumers, like this book does, are we really giving them a better life. The US has become a nation of consumers and now we are faced with failing economic numbers that haven't been seen in three decades and a collapsing economy that can easily rival the great depression. Africans need to be thought of as more than dollar signs and it should be looked as the potential of being a grand social experiment that extends far beyond the playground to commit the same mistakes of the first world nations surrounding her.

Africa Rising is an exceptional book. It is certainly geared toward a marketing professional but the general public will have a lot of stereotypes of Africa shattered. Like most Americans, I thought of Africa as a place on only widespread hunger and violence; no "normal" life. This book really opened my eyes. Although there is rampant poverty in many places, and some areas are still unstable, there are many more success stories than what we hear about.

Since this book is aimed at business executives, sometimes the readability suffers. The first chapter seems to be a mishmash of a lot of information all lumped together. The rest have a somewhat better flow. For the casual reader without a strong business background, the author makes some reasonable assumptions that may make the text occasionally harder to understand. For example he assumes that the reader knows that Saatchi & Saatchi is a world-leading advertising agency.

Each chapter is packed with illuminating information. There are endnotes with plenty of references to the source material, and the index is very thorough. Each chapter ends with a handful of "thought" questions to help get the creative thought processes kick-started. Real companies and individual entrepreneurs are spotlighted to bring the topics alive.

Some interesting tidbits of information from this book: There are only 100 ATMs in Uganda, a country of 27 million people. Phone minutes have become a medium of exchange, much more useful than hard currency.

An example of a myth shattered, at least for me. In Egypt, I expected a country of a few rich oil sheiks contributing to the bulk of the economy, where in fact, over 30% of the GNP is in the "informal" economy, or unreported income. So there is a large amount of income at all levels in that economy.

Congratulations to Professor Vijay Mahajan on an excellent book about the entrepreneurs in Africa that are creating jobs and improving the quality of life in Africa. I especially appreciated the author's emphasis on marketing in his book. I have been waiting for an author to write a book like Professor Vijay Mahajan has. Thank you Professor Vijay Mahajan. Pasted below is an Africa Rising book review I found of interest.

"Business Books: Africa's need is good for business", Book Review by Clar Ni Chonghaile, Reuters, 9.11.08,

Africa may be a needy continent but this need offers rich rewards for businesses that are daring, innovative and flexible enough to grapple with poor infrastructure, underdeveloped markets and volatile politics.

This is the premise of a new book, "Africa Rising: How 900 Million African Consumers Can Offer More Than You Think" (Wharton School Publishing, $29.99).

Author Vijay Mahajan, who holds the John P. Harbin Centennial Chair in Business at McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, debunks traditional stereotypes about a continent that is starting to beep ever louder on the radars of global investors.

His book, published this month, is built around interviews with African and expatriate business people across the continent, including producers of consumer goods, alcohol, soft drinks, airline firms and retailers.

"(Many entrepreneurs) were tired of the media reporting too many negative stories about Africa ... if something happened in one country, all Africa was on fire. They were saying 'how come our story doesn't get out?"' he told Reuters in an interview.

High commodity prices, greater political stability in many countries, fewer wars, better communications and economic growth of around 6.5 percent have helped lure new investment, often from China and other emerging countries, primarily for resources such as oil and gas.

Mahajan says Africa's 900 million plus people in 53 countries offer much as a market -- they need to eat, they need clean water, clothing and medicine and they want cell phones, bicycles and computers.

If Africa were a single country, according to World Bank data, it would have had $978 billion total gross national income in 2006, placing it ahead of India.

"You cannot ignore that chunk ... if you are a company that has ambitions of being global," he told Reuters.

But you have to be nimble.

"HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT"

His book is at its best when it exposes the nitty-gritty of marketing, distributing and selling in African countries.

He cites the example of Zimbabwean company Innscor which operates the restaurant chain Steers in that country. Short of foreign exchange, it got into crocodile farming and became one of the world's biggest producers of crocodile meat and skins.

In Zambia, he writes, Gillette put some 18,000 young men on bicycles to sell small cards with five of its inexpensive double-edged blades -- they took the product all over the country, increasing sales from 5,000 to 750,000 units in 2004.

"Entrepreneurs solve problems," writes Mahajan. "Take away electricity and they sell generators. Take away a stable financial system and they make their money on speculating on foreign currency. Take away their employment and they set up kiosks in the street."

And he argues that the development of consumer markets through this kind of innovation may be a more powerful driver of long-term progress than political reform.

The book is timely, tapping into investor optimism about Africa -- a feeling that does not seem to have been badly dented by political crises in Zimbabwe and Kenya, war in Somalia or a coup in Mauritania.

Mahajan wants to open people's eyes to Africa's rise, which he says is "hidden in plain sight." He also cites the importance of the vast African diaspora, both for marketing and because of the billions of dollars they send home each year.

Some might argue that businesses alone cannot lift Africa out of poverty, especially multinationals which are sometimes accused by African politicians and others of neo-colonialism.

Mahajan acknowledges his vision is "very optimistic" and he is aware of the obstacles to development: HIV/AIDS, the lack of clean water, diseases like malaria, not enough schools.

He says those who want to do business in Africa need to recognise that social entrepreneurship and involvement in local communities must be part of their business plan.

The book's tone is upbeat, but there is also caution: Africa is not for the faint of heart.

"It is for entrepreneurs and companies that recognise that where there are obstacles that might discourage others, there are opportunities for those who can persevere," Mahajan writes.

Or as Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese-born founder of one of Africa's most successful companies, Celtel International, is quoted as saying: "In business, when there is a gap between reality and perception, there is good business to be made." http://africa.reuters.com/)

Author Vijay Mahajan recognizes that Africa is more than a hot continent full of corrupt officials, desert sands and teeming jungles. He dispels the myth that Africa is homogeneous and recognizes the various market strategies on the African Continent.

Through statistics and anecdotal stories, he paints a picture of blazingly hot opportunities in Africa. Some of these seem like no brainers- of course Africans want cell phones, TV's and the latest technology. But do countries have the infrastructure and the ability to construct and maintain cell towers and keep an electrical grid operating smoothly? Yes and No and the author let's the reader know that some countries have better resources than others but even the countries a reader might not think are worth investing in - say Zimbabwe- still have consumers who long for products. Examples the author gives of products being marketed in Africa currently are soaps, shampoos and beers to name a few. Very interesting was the Nigerian entertainment industry. The would be investor must be creative in not only what he sells but how he sells it and even how it will be distributed.

I found the author's research to be insightful but also a little too optimistic. Wars are raging in parts of the African continent and corruption is an enormous problem making some investments just too risky. Still this is a good book informing investors that Africa really is an opportunity not to be overlooked. I have recommended this book to my nephew who recently graduated from college. He is a marketing major and was very interested in reading about African consumers when I told him about Africa Rising.

This book should be required reading for anyone interested in doing business in Africa. Author Vijay Mahajan blends his personal experiences with excellent research to show the mighty potential -- as well as pitfalls -- of this huge market.

Mahajan makes it clear that doing business in Africa requires dealing with idiosyncracies. In Morocco, for example, neighborhood retail stores commonly give credit to all members of a family, charging no interest -- a difficult concept for new retailers to match.

The author notes that entrepreneurs can find opportunities in surprising places in Africa. To meet the shortage of public restrooms in Nigeria, for instance, one businessman has built a profitable business with for-charge portable toilets.

You don't have be in Africa to capitalize on the market, the book notes. African immigrants around the world will pay to call or send money home.

I like that the author offers an extensive source list in the back.

Ordered the book about 8 months ago when "the bottom billion" still seemed to be irreversibly ascendant...but, with the bottom falling out on the economies of the developed world and the resultant withdrawal of so much of the resources committed to emerging economies, the world this book surveys may have changed so dramatically that a lot of the practical advice is no longer relevant.

This is especially true in light of the pull back of the kind of foreign direct investment that the book focuses on. Without question there are still opportunities for huge wealth creation in Africa's markets, especially in telecommunications and energy. But, for the time being, the predictions of market growth for the continent look unrealistic and they can't be recalibrated authentically until another economic shift allows for a new assessment of the opportunities that this 900 million customer market actually presents.