In Africa’s Business Revolution, Acha Leke, Mutsa Chironga, and Georges Desvaux point out that the African continent will account for one-fifth of humanity by 2025 and will see its population double by the middle of this century.  That will make it one of the only regions on earth with an expanding labor force and expanding group of customers.

The experience of fast-growing businesses across the continent reveals four key innovations that they thoroughly examine:

1. Create products and services that fulfill Africa’s unmet needs. Pages 114-117)
2. Rethink your business model to truly engage with your customers. (118-121)
3. Get lean to drive down cost and price points. (121-123)
4. Harness technology to unleash the next wave of innovation. (123-125)

“To turn white space into gold — for shareholders and customers alike — companies must be ready to rethink their products, services, markets, and business models. For forward-looking businesses, that makes Africa one of the world’s most exciting arenas for innovation.”

An increasing number of forward-thinking companies “provide examples that can be an ispiration to others: they have found ways to overcome persistent challenges that limited markets, hampered business growth, and made life harder for ordinary people. The innovative solutions that make business growth possible in Africa could one day provide more efficient products, services, and business models for the rest of the world.”

Africa’s Business Revolution: How to Succeed in the World’s Next Big Growth Market was published by Harvard Business School Press (November 2018).