{"id":493,"date":"2012-08-09T15:36:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-09T15:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scqa.hult.edu\/en\/news\/news\/2012\/august\/from-silicon-valley-to-rift-valley-latitude-news\/"},"modified":"2021-11-02T14:26:58","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T14:26:58","slug":"from-silicon-valley-to-rift-valley-latitude-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/from-silicon-valley-to-rift-valley-latitude-news\/","title":{"rendered":"From Silicon Valley to Rift Valley [Latitude News]"},"content":{"rendered":"

The start-up world is getting a lot bigger: Silicon Valley now has serious competition<\/a> from places like Singapore, Sao Paulo and Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

Will its rivals soon include\u00a0Lagos, Cape Town or any number of fast-growing African cities?<\/p>\n

Yes, says\u00a0Benson Honig<\/a>, a professor in the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s a demographic time bomb in the aging Western world,\u201d Honig says. \u201cWhere are the young people? Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Africans already have the right business instincts. \u201cAfrica is a continent of entrepreneurs,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have no choice. If you need a part, you can\u2019t order it from somewhere else. It might take six months or a year to come. So you make it yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honig\u2019s remarks came at\u00a0\u201cUnleashing Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies,\u201d a conference hosted last week at the\u00a0Hult International Business School<\/a>\u00a0in Boston.<\/p>\n

He believes such ingenuity can be tapped and shared across the world. \u201cMicro-credit, cell phone banking. These are African innovations that are just starting to make an impact in Canada and the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

A business school for the world<\/h3>\n

Honig is part of a movement in the business school world, a movement that sees local, on-the-ground entrepreneurship as the most effective way to help kick-start the economies of developing nations.<\/p>\n

He was joined at the Hult conference by professors from business schools in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the UK, Pakistan, Nigeria and more. \u201cWe\u2019re all optimists,\u201d says Joanne Lawrence<\/a>, who teaches corporate responsibility and social innovation at Hult. \u201cWe all see Africa rising.\u201d<\/p>\n

One reason why Africa is moving up: access to capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cInnovation requires capital, but historically people from outside the U.S. have had limited access to funding,\u201d says Mike Grandinetti<\/a>, managing director at Southboro Capital and entrepreneurship professor at Hult. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, \u201cthe venture industry has turned on its head. We now have an extraordinary opportunity for new ventures around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henrietta Onwuegbuzie, a professor of business from Nigeria, speaks about cultural differences between Africa and the West. (Nicholas Nehamas)<\/div>\n

A cultural divide<\/h3>\n

But do companies in Accra or Abuja need Western-style management techniques?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an open question,\u201d acknowledges David Wheeler<\/a>, Dean of the Plymouth University Business School in England, \u201cwhether what happens in a Western business school has any effect on what happens in South Sudan or Kenya or Tanzania.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just try to replicate what\u2019s happening in one region,\u201d agrees Grandinetti.\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s so much localization required. Every region needs to be clear on what its strengths are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henrietta Onwuegbuzie<\/a> is on the faculty at the Lagos Business School in Nigeria. She says entrepreneurship is \u201cintrinsic to African culture.\u201d But she\u2019s also worried about the cultural gap between the West and her home. Because of her Western education, she says, \u201cI have begun to feel like a foreigner in my own country.\u201d She stresses the importance of cooperating with African entrepreneurs and learning from them, rather than just mouthing Western management buzzwords.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome solutions are African,\u201d argues Honig. \u201cSome are ours. Some African solutions may even work here . . . we can\u2019t say any longer: we\u2019re doing it here, so you should be doing it there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social responsibility<\/h3>\n

One way business may differ for entrepreneurs in the developing economies of Africa: an expectation that they behave with social responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe old Western model of divide and conquer and exploit is not acceptable anymore,\u201d Honig says. \u201cWe have a responsibility in the globalized world. We\u2019re no longer capable of saying, \u2018We don\u2019t care what happens over there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Soccket, an innovative energy producing soccer ball (Courtesy: Uncharted Play)<\/div>\n

Grandinetti points to the work of Jessica Matthews, an entrepreneur and Harvard graduate who lectures at Hult. Matthews, a Nigerian-American, helped found a start-up called Uncharted Play, which has developed the Soccket, a soccer ball that\u2019s also a portable generator.<\/p>\n

Grandinetti says that\u2019s just one example of how young entrepreneurs can change lives in resource-poor communities around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re starting to see every corner of the earth embrace entrepreneurship,\u201d he says. \u201cNot just for profit, but for social good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full Latitude News article.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo credit: SeaMo<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Make the most of what your career has to offer with a Masters in International Business<\/a> from Hult. To learn more, take a look at our blog 5 big reasons why to apply early for your MBA or Masters<\/a>, or give your employability a huge boost with an MBA in international business<\/a>. Download a brochure or get in touch today to find out how Hult can help you to explore everything about the business world, the future, and yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The start-up world is getting a lot bigger: Silicon Valley now has serious competition from places like Singapore, Sao Paulo and Tel Aviv. 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