Despite the fact that more than USD500 billion was pumped into Africa between 1960 and 1997 as foreign aid to improve the continent’s infrastructure and economic well being, Africa is worse than it was in its pre-colonial era. Poverty remains a major economic crisis with over 60% of the Sub-Saharan human population living below the poverty line. Disease and civil/ethnic wars continue to rampage economic stability of Africa.

Despite the otherwise good intentions by the West to provide funds to Africa, it has been discovered that most countries from the West allocate funds with vested interests in the rich and resourceful African soil, and not necessarily for the purposes of development. African governments also receive stringent conditions to access the aid.

Africa has the potential to liberate itself and work on building sustainable development for the economic and social well being of its people. African people need to develop a ‘can do’ attitude and work on discovering their potential as well as solving their own problems in their own ways.

Fostering an entrepreneurial spirit can be a breakthrough for Africa to achieve sustainable development. Venturing into a business opportunity gives an entrepreneur freedom to make risky but wise decisions for the sake of business growth, thereby achieving self-empowerment. The informal sector substantially contributes towards the economic development of a country the world over. African governments should therefore fully embrace the entrepreneurial concept and work towards creating a sustainable business environment that will attract entrepreneurs/ investors.

Research done on the ease of setting up business in various countries in the world, has ranked Kenya 83^rd. Most entrepreneurs and investors are driven away by the cumbersome bureaucratic tape in the registration of a business enterprise and heavy taxes levied on products and services. The government should establish favorable policies, rules and regulations to govern business operations as well as provide incentives to potential local and foreign investors. Moreover, establishing training facilities where practical business skills are imparted onto people would reduce the initial training costs faced by most entrepreneurs, thereby driving low the operational costs. Though foreign investors have been accused of driving local entrepreneurs out of business, they provide competition that serves as a benchmark for local business people to improve the quality of their products and services.

Local entrepreneurs also find it a problem to access start-up capital. Moreover, some cultural practices hinder entrepreneurship. African women are not allowed to own property hence accessing funds is far-fetched. Africa’s poor education system plays a role in underdevelopment by preparing students for white collar jobs. Consequently, most youth remain unemployed and idle hence channeling their energy into drugs, alcohol, crime and prostitution.

To tackle this, introduction of entrepreneurship option in the school curriculum would encourage the youth to consider it a career of choice. Start- up capital, on the other hand, can be acquired through government loans ( for example, the recently established youth and women entrepreneurship funds), borrowing soft loans from family members and friends, as well as acquiring bank loans, though the latter attract huge interest rates and short credit periods due to the high risk involved.

It is evident that entrepreneurship creates sustainable development since income streaming in from the businesses raises the entrepreneurs’ standard of living, improves consumer buying power and adds revenue to the government in form of taxes. The revenue acquired, if not misused by corrupt government deals, would benefit infrastructure and generally improve the economic well being of the country. So then, we do not need help from outside, because the answers to Africa’s problems lie within us if only we were courageous enough to venture into the unpredictable but rewarding world of business.