At this technologically super savvy epoch, African entrepreneurs have formidable challenges in achieving sustainable success and competitive advantage in their engaged business operations. Some of the challenges are pertaining to: technology usage; competitive and unpredictable global and local phenomena; environmental and regulatory environment; complex global economic interactions; companies’ resources and capabilities; economic and social infrastructures of their nations; ever increasing customers’ sophistication; shorter product and technology life cycles, etc. African entrepreneurs need to confront these and other major challenges skillfully and prudently. Otherwise, it is imperative that they will not be able to achieve sustainable competitive advantage and obtain higher innovatory outcomes. 

Sustainable entrepreneurial success demands alertness, awareness, suitable entrepreneurial acumen, dedication and persistent pursuance for continuous improvement. Collaborative efforts should be made by all stakeholders at both macro and micro levels. Educational and other capacity building institutions have a pivotal role in training and promoting genuine entrepreneurial innovation up to the grassroots levels.

The current mushrooming of technological innovations and ground breaking discoveries have continued building their formidable impacts on the socio-economic landscape of African nations. As a result, the socio-cultural and economic life of African societies is changing as part of this phenomenon. However, more should be done to enhance the benefits that can be earned by enhancing the outreach of useful technologies. The vast majority of African farmers are interconnected with cheap wireless cell phones and other basic communication facilities. This is a good beginning for the continent. Indeed this communication technology has already given a great advantage to the African rural and urban populations. African nations should continue improving their global, inter-country and intra-country connections in a multi-dimensional ways. Its advantage as well as its contribution to the nations’ advancement is indispensable.

African nations should be aware that new systems, techniques, tools, skills, business modus operandi, operational systems, etc. are emerged frequently around the globe. The lifecycles of many technologies and products are decreasing at faster rates in unprecedented way. Savvy alertness is vital to benefit by using them at the grassroots level before they are phased out.  The brilliant economist and pioneer in entrepreneurship and innovation, Schumpeter once said, “Entrepreneurs and the innovative way of searching for the new and the better are inseparable any time, everywhere and at any developmental stage.”

The human ingenuity and creativity is already significantly influenced by the WHAT-TO-USE and HOW-TO-USE of technology. The African populace in general and entrepreneurs in particular should be dynamic and agile to a significant extent in order to be able to benefit from the available technology in the most desired way. The result is a considerable direct contribution to the socio-economic development of African nations. For African entrepreneurs in particular, the broad and effective use of appropriate technology has become a core requirement in their efforts to achieve entrepreneurial survival and sustainable progress. 

It is now clear more than ever that African entrepreneurs have a pivotal role to play in the dreams and aspirations of every African citizen to see a better and more advanced Africa for the next generation. African entrepreneurs need to pull themselves out of the quagmire of the detrimental vicious cycle of rent seeking and unethical business engagement. The mentality of trying to be rich overnight cannot help for the entrepreneurs themselves and for the socio-economic development of their home nations. 

Unfortunately, the notable poor macro-economic governance, inadequate institutional capacity, undeveloped socio-economic and physical infrastructures and above all deep rooted market imperfections have created the fertile ground for rent seeking business during the past. This phenomenon has significantly damaged the economies of African nations and slowed the socio-economic developmental process. The decades of lost opportunity should not be allowed to continue unabated. African genuine entrepreneurs, particularly the young ones, have an essential role to play.

It is now the right time for African entrepreneurs to use all available means to help the national economy of their respective nations through the proper way of entrepreneurial engagement and appropriate technology usage. They are expected to bear the responsible leadership in the process of changing for changes towards the better. African entrepreneurs should be aware that they are the engine of economic growth and that is their rightful position in society. At this competitive time, it has become an inevitable mandate for African entrepreneurs to perform their entrepreneurial tasks not in shallow, narrow and static ways, rather in much deeper, broader and dynamic ways.

If entrepreneurs do not use emerging technologies effectively, who else will use more than them? This is a mandatory task and entrepreneurial responsibility for them.  They need to get prepared by possessing the necessary KNOW HOWS’ AND KNOW WHATS’ of effective use of invented and discovered technologies at the right time, under the right situation and at the desired position. This should be the entrepreneurial effectiveness and prudence to bring multi-dimensional beneficial outcomes. The era of showy expensive white elephant projects should be stopped. Instead, grassroots based and entrepreneurial innovation centered sustainable socio-economic development process should be promoted and maneuvered.

Knowledge has become cheaper to obtain and is also ubiquitous everywhere thanks to the extraordinary development and global outreach of information technology. The African human and material endowments are potentially massive and valuable in the midst of our planet. Several pundits predicted that African population will be more than 2 billion by the year 2050. This means that Africa will have a more significant influence in the dynamics of world economic interactions. Every African entrepreneur and all other stakeholders from top to the grassroots level should accelerate the developmental continuum of the continent. Wider dissemination of technology can push forward this potentially rich but currently poor continent. Concerned governments, public agencies, academic institutions and other stakeholders need to work together to scale-up the continent in its deserved position in the midst of the world socio-economic landscape.

By Mengsteab Tesfayohannes, Ph.D.

The author is Associate Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at the Sigmund Weis School of Business, Susquehanna University, PA, USA. He is a resource person for African economic development and investment in the private sector. He can be reached at: [email protected].