How Africa can boost entrepreneurship- O'Neil

Former Chief Economist of Goldman Sachs, Dr. Jim O'Neill, has said that although there is currently a high level of entrepreneurship spirit in the African continent, the right policies and attitude need to be put in place for rapid economic transformation to occur.

Specifically, he called for an improved level of intra-trading among African countries, pointing out that unlike the Europeans, many African countries don't currently trade with one another but instead maintain a hostile relationship.

He said the agricultural sector of the Nigerian economy would have recorded a more spectacular success if the country were to trade its produce with its neighbours.

Speaking in Abuja during a panel discussion of the Africapitalism Institute's inaugural Global Advisory Board Meeting themed: "Africapitalism: Maximising Local Value Creation," he said Nigeria must walk the talk in order to strengthen its entrepreneurship potential.

O'Neil, renowned for coining the terms "BRICS" and "MINTs", further urged the continent to stop "Fighting each other and start trading with one another", adding that with a population of about 1.1 billion people in Africa, there was great opportunity for trade within the continent.

He said Africa needed to "do the simple things because Africa has not behave as a continent and should try to do things seriously with one another."

However, Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Mr. Tony Elumelu, argued that Africa currently does not have the capacity or what it takes to trade with one another stressing that "you don't trade what you don't have."

For example, he said, Nigeria can only export to other countries if it had the ability to refine most of its raw materials locally.

He said the bane of intra-trade in Africa is that " We don't produce yet what we need."

He said African countries neither have nor produce enough goods and services to drive intra-African trade.

He said:"Africa cannot move forward by leaving 50 per cent of its population behind. It is not enough for African countries to produce only raw materials that are shipped off to Europe and America to be converted to finished consumer goods that are eventually imported to Africa. We can only trade with what we have."

But he said the Tony Elumelu Foundation had committed the sum of $100 million to help young African entrepreneurs with $10,000 each as venture capital to finance creative business ideas to boost trade among African countries and help creat employment.

Elumelu noted that empowering the young population to unleash their entrepreneurship potential was critical to the transformation of the economic fortunes of the continent.

However, he argued that progress in intra-trade among African countries was being spearheaded by Nigerian firms including Dangote, Globacom as well as the banking industry.