Africa Rising, by Vijay Mahajan

Review by Michael M. Goldman, Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria

Every year, millions of tourists visit Africa’s wildlife in game parks across the continent. Although Vijay Mahajan describes his many visits to the communities, companies, and countries that make up the almost one billion African consumers as a “consumer safari” (p. xii), his is a journey of a very different kind. With its unique focus on understanding Africa from a marketing perspective, Mahajan’s eleventh book, Africa Rising, is a thought-provoking investigation into the consumer markets across Africa, adding to the practical knowledge of doing business in one of the world’s fastest-growing regions.

Mahajan suggests that Africa Rising is an attempt “to set the record straight” (p. x) after his limited coverage of the continent in The 86% Solution (Mahajan and Banga 2006) and his previous view that Africa was “more of a charity case than a market opportunity” (p. x). He achieves this within 250 pages by sharing his insightful first-hand experiences, observations, and conversations with numerous entrepreneurs across Africa who are demonstrating how Africa is being transformed—perhaps into the next India or China.

The book is well structured and divided into two broad sections. Chapter 1 makes a compelling case for reconsidering Africa as an appealing market, echoing Santiso’s (2007, p. 27) call to take “a fresh look at Africa” because “something new is happening.” Mahajan argues in Chapter 2 that the continent is “richer than you think” (p. 29) and that significant advances in mobile communications and financial services are accelerating the wealth of its people, companies, and countries. He suggests that local and foreign entrepreneurs are successfully building profitable businesses and sustainable communities by viewing Africa through a new lens. Mahajan examines innovative and pioneering firms, such as Bidco in Kenya, Dangote in Nigeria, Innscor in Zimbabwe, Mansour in Egypt, and Black Like Me in South Africa, to illustrate the opportunities that exist to meet the needs of the close to one billion people on the continent.

In Chapter 3, Mahajan discusses segmentation of consumers on the continent into Africa One, Two, and Three, with a strong focus on the “power” of the 350 million–500 million middle group of Africa Two “who can buy” (p. 60). Mahajan touches on the wealth and global consumer behavior of the growing Africa One segment and also explores the often-discussed poor segment of Africa Three as a consumer market, with a focus on pricing and packaging. Although these “base of the pyramid (BoP)” consumers (Simanis and Hart 2008, p. 1) and poverty alleviation are not his focus throughout the book, Mahajan reinforces the perspective of the poor as consumers, unlike Karnani (2007, p. 102), who argues “for the need to view the poor primarily as producers … and to emphasize buying from the poor rather than selling to them.”

The second section of the book focuses on realizing the new opportunities in Africa. In Chapter 4, Mahajan suggests that entrepreneurs need to “realize that African markets do not arrive ready made. They must be organized” (p. 79). He explores how retailing, brands, secondhand markets, and distribution can assist in organizing often-informal markets. The emphasis here is on the role of the external private sector in bringing the order required for business as opposed to the “community-based approaches” (Beshouri 2006, p. 66) to market development. Greater analysis of the philosophies and practices of the multinational corporations he refers to, such as Diageo, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, ShopRite, and Tata, would deepen the understanding of the role of international companies in local African communities.

In Chapter 5, Mahajan examines the infrastructure opportunities and challenges facing many African countries, including power, water, airlines, agriculture, and the Internet. His discussion of the citywide unrestricted Wi-Fi/WiMAX network in Freetown, Sierra Leone, emphasizes many of the positive surprises awaiting those willing to take a second look at Africa.

With more than 40% of Africa’s population under the age of 15, Mahajan correctly identifies in Chapter 6 the opportunities for products and services aimed at this “cheetah generation” (p. 130), particularly in music and sports. In Chapter 7, he also explores Nigeria’s Nollywood film industry and the numerous other media and entertainment business opportunities that exist across the continent. Finally, in Chapter 8, Mahajan exposes the significant role of members of the African Diaspora in reinvesting in the development of the continent, reinforcing Adams’s (2006) conclusion that households receiving international remittances have a higher propensity to invest than other households.

The conclusion to Africa Rising includes a strong call to action, with practical advice for local and international companies, nongovernmental organizations, educators, members of the Diaspora, media, and African leaders. These useful ideas are supported throughout the book by reflection and action questions at the end of each chapter, as well as regular challenges to the reader. The placement and use of these questions will assist practitioners in identifying new opportunities in Africa.

Mahajan’s attempt to specifically address some of the negative perceptions of Africa in Chapter 2 could have benefited from deeper economic and geopolitical research. As with The 86% Solution (Mahajan and Banga 2006) Mahajan’s Africa Rising could also have benefited from more thorough editing. There are a few bothersome spelling errors, including “Moselm” (p. 54).

Mahajan states that “every day, [the almost one billion consumers in Africa] … desire cell phones, metal roofs for their homes, televisions, music, computers, movies, bicycles, cosmetics, medicine, cars, and loans to start businesses” (p. xi). The value of Africa Rising is in capturing and highlighting the significantly positive developments occurring in consumer markets across the continent and the approaches and practices being employed by local and foreign entrepreneurs to take advantage of these many profitable and sustainable opportunities. His firsthand “consumer safari” approach is refreshing and provides a compelling case to reconsider the economic transformation underway across Africa

REFERENCES


Adams, Richard H. (2006), “International Remittances and the Household: Analysis and Review of Global Evidence,” Journal of African Economies, 15 (2), 396–425.


Beshouri, Christopher P. (2006), “A Grassroots Approach to Emerging-Market Consumers,” The McKinsey Quarterly, 4, 61–71.


Karnani, Aneel (2007), “The Mirage of Marketing to the Bottom of the Pyramid: How the Private Sector Can Help Alleviate Poverty,” CaliforniaManagement Review, 49 (4), 90–111.


Mahajan, Vijay and Kamini Banga (2006), The 86% Solution: How to Succeed in the Biggest Market Opportunity of the 21st Century. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Wharton School Publishing.


Santiso, Javier (2007), “Africa: An Emerging Markets Frontier,” The OECD Observer, 263 (October), 26–27.


Simanis, Erik and Stuart Hart (2008), The Base of the Pyramid Protocol: Toward Next Generation BoP Strategy. New York: Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise.

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