Unlocking the Entrepreneurial Promise in Africa

Unlocking the Entrepreneurial Promise:
Human Security, Human Capital, Employment and Entrepreneurship Development in Africa
Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD
Professor of Public Policy, School of Graduate Studies,
College of Business and Economics, AAU
Background notes & transcript of a lecture at the
AU/UN Finance & Economic Ministers Forum, side events
March 29-31, 2015, AU, Addis Ababa

As a region of young people; whose visions of human development and human security are defined by the tenacity to achieve the Compact defined by the Millennium Development Goals, the youth are right to aspire to forms of transformational development in terms of equity, a healthy population, an educated, fully engaged and employed youth with a solid family structure. Nonetheless, the reality is of one of marginalization, demanding radical developmental and demographic reconfiguration. The later breeds despondency, desperation, intolerance and of course belligerence; so much so that political forces in every corner have mobilized the youth for violent ends, often to the detriment of their very own livelihoods.
The unfolding human tragedy, its impact on human security and development are indeed too ghastly to contemplate. Whereas, the challenge simply stated, underpins the need to connect to the energies of the youth, they have instead, for so many years were encouraged to look to outsiders to provide the means and processes of change. They have been discouraged from mobilizing for local actions and for their own development, finding themselves in positions of unequal power, making it very tempting for many in politics to dictate conditions and terms of relationships on them.The purpose here is to propose means that are designed to develop strategies to mobilize nations and civil societies to direct policies and programs to address the compelling and evolving implications of unemployment and human insecurity; so that it does not further reverse human and social capital development in the sub-Region. The need for collective learning about responses and the responsibility to those whose suffering provided the basis for that learning will never be more urgent than it is now. Unfortunately, such lessons, which may be learned through the shocks administered by an uncompromising reality, are rarely translated quickly into personal or organizational memories and the inherent will to change. The reasons for this are sometimes rooted in human inertia, weakness and self-interest. They are equally often the products of a genuine confusion about how to act most effectively in an environment that seems to be growing more complex.
In 1945, the human community proclaimed a bold and revolutionary vision of the future; where the youth will engage collectively as result of the responsible action of politically mature citizens acting in the framework of a free society. As we stand on the watershed of the old and new Millennia, demands for greater democratic space and youth participation in Horn of Africa have increased the accountability of state actors. This tall order would revolutionize approaches to self-directed human development that only a new paradigm shift and commitment to new organizing principles can achieve. Hence, the need to focus on practical strategies for employment based safety nets and employment generation loans that have transformed hitherto underemployed economies into forces of livelihood sustainability and human security.
Human qualities for development
A major contributing factor to the appalling situation is that there is and has been a shallow understanding of and a feeble grip on, the essential components that constitute the required human qualities for development and the intensive and comprehensive nature of their development and utilization processes. As such, important components and commitment required to build and use a quality labor force for accelerating and sustaining growth are not properly addressed in the education, training and productivity programs. Nations have failed to produce and retain the necessary pool of self-confident, healthy, knowledgeable and skilled public and private sectors labor force, which is full of initiatives and resourcefulness with a sense of purpose, work ethics, vision, integrity and direction. Pronouncements have been made regarding employment and career development programs in m ay forums. Yet, like many other policy efforts, these have not yielded the desired results. Human capital flight from the region has reached high proportions leaving behind an ill-prepared labor force. Skills, knowledge and positive work habits continued to be in short supply. School systems are in shambles in most countries. Strong private sector leadership at all levels of society is essential for an effective auguring of quality labor market. It is essential that their efforts should be complemented by the full and active participation of civil society and the state. Leadership involves personal commitment and concrete actions.
Policy and strategic collapse
While the degree of awareness on the challenges has improved over the past few years, the tendency for governments to treat these challenges as yet another routine issue that needs to be tackled through five-year development plans is tantalizing. The fact remains, however, that these challenges will increasingly claim the livelihoods of many families and the economic backbone of many nations; retarding human development to a level where it becomes impossible to reverse the trend in much less time than the development cycles of states. These are further complicated by fear of the unknown, traditional power dynamics, lack of experience or awareness of collective action, poor local leadership and the lack of energy, time and willingness to devote to activities other than subsistence.
An ambitious African youth policy of 2004 zeroes on enabling the youth to play an active role in building a democratic society and good governance, as well as in social and economic development. It further aims to deliver a democratically oriented, knowledgeable and skilled, organized and disciplined enterprising youth generation. Nevertheless, the low levels of opportunities for productive employment only serve to amplify the nation’s penury. This is not without its politico-ethical consequences. It is echoed in the politicization of violent and fearless youth and the mass diasporization that now crowded Western capitals, as a source of skilled human capital. Failure to utilize such a lynchpin factor of production is not acceptable. Radical policy and strategic measures to boast the private sector’s role and capacity need to be launched with vigor to develop the management and functionings of the labor.
Knowledge management and Communities of Practice:
Evidence of sufficient knowledge and information about the business sector is another indicator. Progress in information systems on micro-economic behavior including labor market networks and the specific requirements of technology transfer and adaptation are all preconditions for sound policy and strategy analysis, formulation and management. Planning and policy-making are characterized by on-going dialogue between government and different groups of economic actors and by regular exchange of electronic data and information on specific needs and requirements including the critical area of technology transfer and development. Further, a coherent and coordinated approach of government agencies in their dealings with the business community, flexibility in response to changing circumstances; attention to detail on objectives agreed upon and emphasis on achieving high levels of performance must be developed.
Entrepreneurship development
Entrepreneurs that are expected to employ the vast army of labor and that operate on a small-to intermediate-scale usually exhibit fairly sophisticated organizational skills. Nevertheless, as their businesses grow along the small-to intermediate-scale continuum, they often face constraints such as limited managerial capabilities; difficulties with technology transfer and adaptation; and, as in the case of informal sector micro-entrepreneurs, inadequate or inappropriate public provision of enterprise-level support. If entrepreneurship is to become the vehicle of growth, ‘graduation’ of informal sector micro-enterprises to better endowed establishments and higher levels of value-added and economic diversification is to be achieved, it is clear that the deficit of skills that are necessary to establish a range of capabilities on the managerial side must surmounted (Costantinos, 2004).
An efficient and a development-oriented private sector provide the nourishment, which markets require to grow and function effectively. Markets themselves provide the credit ingredients, which the private sector requires to grow, expand and contribute to development. Thus, there is a reciprocal and mutually productive relationship between the private sector and credit and capital markets. Responsibility for their implementation has been assigned to stakeholders at the national, sub regional and regional levels. Further analysis suggests that we should incorporate the requirements of establishing capital markets and strengthening the private sector in the list of priorities on their macro-economic reform programs. The banking system must be functioning taking care of the money markets. Consequential growth response of the latter should give a boost to capital markets, which in turn provide capital for SHD (Costantinos, 2008).
Human security
Human security, a post-Cold War concept, is a multi-disciplinary understanding of security involving a number of research fields, including development studies, international relations, strategic studies and human rights. While the “HDR originally argued that human security requires attention to both freedoms from fear and from want; divisions have gradually emerged over the proper scope of that protection and over the appropriate mechanisms for responding to these threats. The Freedom from Fear School seeks to limit the practice of human security to protecting individuals from violent conflicts. The Freedom from Want School focuses on the basic idea that violence, poverty, inequality, diseases and environmental degradation are inseparable concepts in addressing the root of human insecurity. Different from Freedom from Fear, it expands the focus beyond violence with emphasis on development and security goals. In reality both should serve as important impetus to global action” (UNDP, 1994).
Conclusion
Indeed, there is no more compelling raison d'être nor a mission-objective so utterly entrenched in the preservation and, even advancement of human-kind, than good governance and leadership that can lead a social league to relate cogently to an epidemic of ignorance and hence under-employment that has spun out of control. With few exceptions, nations have failed to win popular legitimacy - possessing relatively few authentic social organizations that can articulate and aggregate social interests. Civic leadership remain generally non-existent or at best, weak.
Hence, the central hypothesis in entrepreneurship development is that the relative strength of political organizations determines the rules of the political game that are installed. It requires a plural set of political organizations, which promote and protect rules of peaceful political participation and competition. Together, institutions (plural organizations plus rules of accountability) ensure control of the state executive. These create enabling environment for entrepreneurship development

• ingredients of enabling environment for entrepreneurship development: avoidance of bureaucratic barriers and efficient and reliable infrastructure:
• expansion and establishment of intermediary financial institutions: establishment of education and training institutions, healthy business-government relationship, stable political and regulatory climate, development of grassroots entrepreneurship:
• government institutions have been created to serve the large businesses: expansion of the role of civic associations, sound and stable macroeconomic policy framework, and on improving competitiveness and employment opportunities

Countries must develop clear-cut national youth and employment policies that match trained young people to the labor market and financing policies that would ensure production of viable skilled work force. Institutions of higher learning must expand their education and training programs to include soft skill packages – communication skills, teamwork, problem solving, leadership, innovative thinking, etc.
On value for money and accountability in service delivery:
Institution of higher learning must ensure multi-sectoral training in order to produce a multi-skilled labor force. Countries must continue with their programs to decentralize and devolve services, embrace the opportunities brought by ICT as well as maintain capacity building in education and health, and promote mobile services to hard-to-reach communities. Countries must embrace social accountability for service delivery and empower citizens to demand quality services.
On risk protection, inclusion and social cohesion:
Countries of the region and the international community must urgently address the serious problems of human trafficking and piracy, as well as the peculiar situations in fragile states in the region. Member states must develop national and regional policy frameworks on education focusing on science and technology with revised curriculum to address the demands of the labor market. Countries must revive adult literacy, distance learning, early childhood nutrition and education.
On migration, labor mobility and remittances:
Countries must produce what they can absorb and export, while considering the Push-Pull factors in a globalized, technological 21st Century as well as creating jobs and introducing investment incentives for nationals and the Diaspora of the region. Countries must facilitate brain circulation through support of migration that provide exposure/expertise and improve education systems that add value to migrant labor making them competitive in regional and international markets.
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