ABSTRACT
Large-scale firms indigenous to Africa that emerged over the past three decades are transforming the region’s entrepreneurial landscape. The investment decisions of many of these firms are driven by “Africapitalism,” a variant of “private authority” in global and regional governance that advocates the power of the African private sector to lead the economic transformation of the continent through long-term dual-mission investing—pursuit of profit and using that profit to create social wealth. By so doing, Africapitalists would guide non-Africans to best channel their efforts and investments to foster sustainable development in the region. Using this framework of social construction of regional business identity, the chapter explores two policy domains infused with this pan-African “business nationalism,” namely deepening financial sector integration and framing the norms of legal/property rights and regulatory reforms by cross-border or transnational organized private sector coalitions. The analysis shows that by adopting or operating according to the core values of Africapitalism, large-scale African firms and their advocacy networks are capable of impacting regional governance, not only in terms of getting states to adopt particular policies or the ability to hold states accountable, but also in terms of the regional socialization effects of their rhetoric and activities on political decision-makers and other non-state actors. The benefits of private sector-led framing of regional integration agenda in Africa must, however, be balanced against the potential governance deficits created by “the sovereign limits” of ceding development public space to private power and interests. Finally, the sustainability of Africapitalism as a sustainable development agenda depends on proper definition of its principles to enable empirical theorizing of its core values; limiting the current strong industry concentration and dominant position of a few African countries that characterizes the indigenous African corporate landscape and its potential to exacerbate the asymmetrical costs and benefits of regional integration; adopting a cross-border risk management framework and strategies to minimize systemic cross-border risks; and partnership with African governments to legitimize and infuse Africapitalism into national and regional development strategies.
