The definitive guide to doing business in Africa, packed with fresh insights from McKinsey and exclusive interviews with prominent CEOs.

Harvard Business Review Press, November 2018 | Acha Leke, Mutsa Chironga, Georges Desvaux

For global and Africa-based companies looking to access new growth markets, Africa offers exciting opportunities to build large, profitable businesses. Its population is young, fast-growing, and increasingly urbanized—while rapid technology adoption makes the continent a fertile arena for innovation. But Africa’s business environment remains poorly understood and known to many executives in the West only by its reputation for complexity, conflict, and corruption.

Africa’s Business Revolution: How to Succeed in the World’s Next Big Growth Market (Harvard Business Press, November 2018) provides the inside story on business in Africa and its future growth prospects and helps executives understand and seize the opportunities for building profitable, sustainable enterprises. From senior leaders in McKinsey’s Africa offices and a leading executive on the continent, this book draws on in-depth, proprietary research by the McKinsey Global Institute as well as McKinsey’s extensive experience in advising corporate and government leaders across Africa. Brimming with company case studies and exclusive interviews with 40 of Africa’s most prominent executives and development leaders, this book comes to life with the vibrant stories of those who have navigated the many twists and turns on the road to building successful businesses on the continent.

Combining an unrivaled fact base with expert advice on shaping and executing an Africa growth strategy, this book is required reading for global business executives wanting to expand their existing operations in Africa—and for those seeking a roadmap to access this vast, untapped market for the first time.

About the authors

Acha Leke
Acha Leke
Acha is a senior partner at McKinsey and chairman of the firm’s Africa offices. Leading the firm’s expansion across Africa, he has worked in more than 20 countries. Acha is the coauthor of the McKinsey Global Institute’s widely recognized Lions on the Move reports on Africa, as well as numerous Harvard Business Review and McKinsey Quarterly articles.
Learn more about Acha
Mutsa Chironga
Mutsa Chironga
Mutsa is an executive at Nedbank, one of South Africa’s largest banking groups. He was previously a partner at McKinsey and served banks in a dozen African countries, mostly on capturing growth opportunities. Mutsa is the coauthor of several McKinsey reports on African economies and financial services.
Georges Desvaux
Georges Desvaux
Georges is a senior partner at McKinsey and a former managing partner of its African and Japanese offices. A leader of McKinsey’s global marketing work, he has helped build the firm’s consumer insights and analytics capabilities. He is the coauthor of numerous articles on consumer and macroeconomic trends.

Endorsements

“Africa’s Business Revolution is a thought provoking read which confronts many of the myths about Africa and provides a strategic guide to navigating an incredibly dynamic and diverse continent.”

—Christine Lagarde, managing director, International Monetary Fund

“A powerful and compelling guide that captures practical know-how for doing profitable and socially impactful business in Africa.”

—Aliko Dangote, president and chief executive, Dangote Industries

“The last great emerging market is Africa. For those investors interested in learning why the market offers enormous opportunities over the coming decade, Africa’s Business Revolution is an indispensable guidebook.”

—David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-executive chairman, The Carlyle Group

The book convinced me that Africa has potential … [it] is essentially a call to entrepreneurs who already operate in Africa, or executives working for larger organisations that are seeking expansion opportunities.

Christine Elgood, Edge, The Institute of Leadership & Management