Book review: How entrepreneurs make it in Africa

How we made it in Africa was established in 2010 as an online African business publication, based in Cape Town. This book, the second in a series, contains 15 in-depth interviews with African entrepreneurs to reveal how they built their businesses and discloses some of their most important insights. In addition, there are five profiles of entrepreneurs from Singapore who have taken some of the opportunities that Africa offers. The inclusion of five Singaporean entrepreneurs bears out the observation made by Amit Jain, as director of the Nanyang Technology University’s Centre for African Studies (which commissioned the book), that there is a growing partnership between Asia and Africa – a relationship built on shared values, common history and mutual economic interests. Author Jaco Maritz works on the premise that the best way to understand Africa’s business landscape is by learning from those already operating on the ground. The first profile in this book is of Herve Tuyishime, who put up (and lost) his family home in Rwanda to fund a farming enterprise. Tuyishime had spotted an opportunity. He realised that, beyond basic subsistence farming, Rwanda’s agricultural sector lacked both commercial farming and value addition. Enrolling on a number of government programmes that sought to promote business proposals, he hit upon pork farming and sausage production. His company PMP began life with just two employees – one raising the pigs, the other producing the sausages. But there was a flaw in his plan: most Rwandans had limited experience of processed meat products. Moreover, the cost of raising the pigs was more than that of buying them at market. Nevertheless, Tuyishime persisted. His strategy was the masterstroke of persuading various bars in Kigali to stock the sausages – a tasty snack to serve alongside drinks. He also expanded his product range to include beef sausages, which proved even more profitable. An American venture fund and accelerator fund – Fledge – recognised Tuyishime’s vision, putting up $20,000. That enabled Tuyishime to clear his bank debt and open new operations in Gisenyi to serve the market in the neighbouring DR Congo. This move boosted production seven-fold. He also set up a separate company, Livestock Bank, to provide small-scale farmers with a system both to supply PMP with quality pork and to guarantee those small-scale farmers a market. PMP now offers a range of fresh meats – beef, pork, chicken, goat and lamb – along with products such as sausages, ham, bacon, salami and meatballs. Tuyishime claims he has seen an increase of revenues of more that 5,000% from seven years ago, and his share of the companies are valued at more than $5m. The logistics conundrum One of the challenges confronting many of the entrepreneurs profiled in this book is tackling the problem of logistics and transport. Tuyishime did this by forming a trucking company, Truk, and investing in a fleet of 28 vehicles – used both to deliver PMP meat products and to also collect and deliver agricultural products from smallholders. Another entrepreneur profiled here is Botswanan Calisto Radithipa who, while living in China, initially sold “knock-off” jeans. He developed a website, Kemcore, as a platform to supply mining materials. One of the first Kemcore-generated orders was from Zambia for 2,000 tons of sulphuric acid (used in the processing of copper). Radithipa sourced the acid in Rustenberg, South Africa, but had the problem of transporting it to Zambia. Transnet, which then held a monopoly on rail freight transport in South Africa, simply did not have the acid wagon rolling stock. Again transport logistics problems raised their ugly head. Then, in 2018, Kemcore won a $10m contract to supply sodium metabisulphite from China to DR Congo, to be used in refining cobalt. Just as Tuyishime did in Rwanda, so too Radithipa invested in trucks – in Radithipa’s case 25 of them, obtained second-hand with the cash that had been advanced on the chemicals contract he had secured. But Radithipa’s business soon evolved – he went from being a simple middleman trader supplying chemicals to building a factory in Ndola, Zambia that could actually manufacture the products. He was to utilise the factory to produce gypsum – used both to produce cement and as fertiliser. His journey replicates that of so many African entrepreneurs – moving from clumsy international trading and import/export to a focus on local manufacturing and more efficient supply chains. The advent of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which intends to tear down borders between countries to make it easier to trade between them, can only boost this trend. Township twist Innovative solutions to the continent’s unique urban challenges are also front and centre in this book. Today, some 22m South Africans live in the townships, generating an economy in excess of $50bn. This huge captive audience caught the attention of Godiragetse Mogajane who, after an initial foray into offering reliable, affordable educational tutorials to township parents anxious to better their children’s prospects, launched Delivery Ka Speed (DKS) in the Pretoria township of Hammanskraal. Customers placed food orders via online messaging services to be delivered on bicycles – DKS competes with the likes of UberEats, which tend to have reach in more affluent areas. Within six months DKS had turned over 1m rand ($600,000), and the profits were ploughed into a dedicated app, allowing for digital payments. The company continued modest growth by offering traditional delivery services. Mogajane also landed deals with Telkom to distribute SIM cards and Capitec Bank to transport consumables to local branches. Mogajane expanded into Soshanguve, Mabopane and Mamelodi townships in Pretoria as well as townships in other provinces. He says: “We believe [the township] market is huge. It just needs a business that understands the dynamics – and understands how to manoeuvre.” In late 2024 he closed the food delivery business to concentrate on a business-to-business (B2B) model, showing that entrepreneurs must be prepared to adapt and seek new opportunities to prosper in uncertain markets. Indeed, the diverse and often inspiring stories in How We Made it in Africa II show the immense challenges that face entrepreneurs of all stripes when doing business in Africa. But they also demonstrate the resolve, ingenuity and innovation needed to succeed in the face of Africa’s unique difficulties. It is a set of characteristics familiar to any entrepreneur doing business on the continent today, whether in the boardroom of a listed company or running a store in an informal settlement. As Maritz says: “The best way to understand Africa’s business landscape is by learning from those already operating on the ground.” How we made it in Africa II: real stories of entrepreneurs turning opportunity into profit By Jaco Maritz £15.99 Maritz Africa ISBN: 9781049235202