Publications

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2018
Race & 21st century economy: Access, investments and institution-building

The Importance of Entrepreneurship to the Black Community

19 Mar 2021
Blog Post

Celebrating Black History: Elevating the Voices of Our Student and Alumni Communities

We’ve enjoyed the opportunity to honor the history and legacy of Black and African American members of our community who have and continue to lay the foundation for the next generation of innovative, successful, and transformational... View Details

October 2017 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Jumia Nigeria: from Retail to Marketplace (A)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Namrata Arora

Founded in 2012, Jumia Nigeria, a startup effort by Germany-based Rocket Internet, aimed to become an African Amazon. The company entered the nascent market and immediately enjoyed an uptick in consumer spending fueled by the strength of Nigeria’s oil-based economy. By... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Marketplace; Inventory; Ecommerce; Funding; Business Ecosystem; Business Ecosystems; Competition; Business Model; Globalization; Emerging Markets; Expansion; Logistics; Competitive Strategy; E-commerce; Retail Industry; India; Nigeria; Africa

February 2018
Case

Infrastructure in Nigeria: Unlocking Pension Fund Investments

By: John Macomber and Pippa Tubman Armerding

The so-called “infrastructure finance gap” was a problem in Nigeria as in many parts of the world. Infrastructure projects like power plants and dams were very large capital investments that could generate long-term consistent cash flows, but their financing and... View Details

Keywords: Pension Fund Investing; Infrastucture; Power/Energy; Credit Enhancement; Infrastructure; Project Finance; Investment Funds; Emerging Markets; Nigeria; Africa

2018
Race and Leadership Development

Why Are We Talking About Race at Work?

25 Apr 2000
Research & Ideas

Adjusting the Fit for Government

Berlin-based nonprofit that supports "national integrity systems" to help curb corruption, Ezekwesili told the HBS audience that it's not enough for African governments to aspire to macro- and microeconomic stability. "We... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

20 Mar 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, March 20, 2018

women, three are African-American, and not one is an African-American woman. What’s going on? The authors studied the careers of the roughly 2,300 alumni of African descent who have graduated from Harvard Business School since its... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Oct 2020
Blog Post

Delving Deeper into Development with the MBA/MPA-ID Program – a Q+A with Zainab Raji (MBA/MPA-ID 2022)

Can you share a bit about your background and where you grew up? Zainab Raji I am one of four children born to my Nigerian parents. I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest commercial hub, and in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. I have fond... View Details

Geoffrey G. Jones

Geoffrey Jones is the Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, and Faculty Chair of the School's Business History Initiative. He holds degrees of BA, MA and PhD from Cambridge University, UK. He has an honorary Doctorate in Economics and Business Administration... View Details

Keywords: banking; beauty products; construction; consumer products; energy; entertainment; fashion; financial services; food; food processing; green technology; petroleum; service industry

11 Mar 2021
Blog Post

A Year as Co-Presidents: Q+A with AASU's Bukie Adebo (MBA 2021) and Alexis Jackson (MBA 2021)

or normal term for African American Student Union (AASU) Co-Presidents Bukie Adebo (MBA 2021) and Alexis Jackson (MBA 2021). We talked to the two second-year students about how 2020 affected their term, highlights from their time as... View Details

13 Dec 2016
First Look

December 13, 2016

incentives influence students' acquisition of S&E human capital during college. The 2008–2009 financial crisis, which substantially reduced the availability of jobs in finance and led to a worsening labor market in general, prompted... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

April 2023 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Eike Batista: Making or Breaking Brazil

By: Geoffrey Jones, Pedro Magalhães, Daniel Tong and Marcel Anduiza

This case explores the meteoric rise and fall of Eike Batista, once Brazil’s richest person and the world’s seventh wealthiest in 2012. Batista began his career by investing in gold mining in the Amazon, using the network his father had built after years serving as... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Energy Industry; Mining Industry; Brazil

06 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

How South Africa Challenges Our Thinking on FDI

that commodity prices will remain attractive enough that surrounding economies in Africa will continue to grow, at least in the medium term, and that will create some positive synergies with South African growth. The general global... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

13 Apr 2021
Blog Post

2021 48th Annual H. Naylor Fitzhugh Conference Honors Black Women Leaders

“Good morning!” welcomed Lillian Lincoln Lambert (MBA 1969) in her address to the African American Student Union’s (AASU) 48th Annual H. Naylor Fitzhugh Conference on February 27, 2021. The conference was the central day in Elevate:... View Details

Career Coach

Aaron Mitchell

Aaron (HBS '11) has spent his career building expertise in Human Capital Management for Consumer Packaged Goods and Financial Services firms in the United States and Asia. He is currently the Head of Talent for MassMutal, a Fortune 100... View Details

2017
Working Paper

Inventory Management for Mobile Money Agents in the Developing World

By: Karthik Balasubramanian, David F. Drake and Douglas Fearing

Mobile money systems, platforms built and managed by mobile network operators to allow money to be stored as digital currency, have burgeoned in the developing world as a mechanism to transfer money electronically. Mobile money agents exchange cash for electronic value... View Details

Keywords: Currency; Mobile Technology; Market Platforms; Developing Countries and Economies

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March 2006 (Revised November 2006)
Case

The Market and the Mountain Kingdom: Change in Lesotho's Textile Industry

By: Rawi E. Abdelal, Regina M. Abrami, Noel Maurer and Aldo Musacchio

In Maseru, the capital of the Kingdom of Lesotho, the stirrings of industrialization and modernization were promising, and more than 50,000 workers, mostly women, were employed in the textile sector; the figure reflected more than a threefold increase in just a few... View Details

Keywords: History; Labor Unions; Trade; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Financial Crisis; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business and Government Relations; Decision Choices and Conditions; Foreign Direct Investment; Developing Countries and Economies; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Lesotho