Africa - Publications - Faculty & Research

20 Jan 2017
News

Bringing Power to the People

building a solar plant of 100 megawatts that will supply power to roughly 200,000 people. And it will be at the cheapest price ever in the region. “We are going to build a solar plant in Mozambique. The electrification rights of Africa is... View Details

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Career Journey | MBA

1% Europe 5% Latin America 1% Middle East / North Africa < 1% United States 88% Class of 2024 who actively sought and accepted full-time roles after graduation. Industry Consulting 18% Consumer Products 3% Entertainment / Media 3%... View Details

06 Dec 2021
News

Leadership in the Digital Age

the Africa Research Center and Middle East and North Africa Research Center highlighted the importance of building the infrastructure necessary to undertake digital transformation. These are all long-term... View Details

Keywords: April White

01 Sep 2017
News

A Jolt for the African Coffee Industry

the stuff, it is powdered Nescafé bought from streetside trolleys. Africa remains by and large the last part of the world to resist coffee, with tea and chocolate drinks the go-to hot beverages. (Exceptions are in the Francophone... View Details

Keywords: Sasha Issenberg; cafe; Cafe Neo; Food and Beverage Stores; Retail Trade

24 Apr 2014
News

Positive impact that hits home

religious heritage. Not least among these is the belief that “you can be a highly performing business executive and also be a very religious person,” observes Seck Mercier. “Those two things can go together without any issue.” She is interested in pursuing her career... View Details

12 Mar 2019
News

Acting Naturally

our business has an impact. So we're very conscious on our labels, and our packaging, and what we're doing for the people inside of Rocky Mountain Soap, in the communities that we exist in. “We've gone to India and Africa and taught... View Details

Keywords: Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

08 Jan 2019
News

Raising Prospects for Female Funders

the tools to manage the risks of this asset class. There are already more than 200 women participating as investors in Europe. And this is not the only place where they exist. There is a Rising Tide Africa coming out, and one in the US.... View Details

31 Jul 2007
First Look

First Look: July 31, 2007

the national microfinance markets of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru within the context of global microfinance. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=307060 Foreign Direct Investment and South View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Jan 2010
News

Allan W.B. Gray, MBA 1965

to his home country of South Africa and established Allan Gray Investment Counsel, a firm dedicated to meeting clients’ needs, including delivering superior returns through rigorous company research. While many financial institutions then... View Details

13 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

The Problem with Productivity of Multi-Ethnic Teams

When Harvard Business School professor Vincent Pons went to Kenya to conduct research in advance of the 2013 national elections, he discovered surprising lessons about how the ethnic makeup of teams affects the work they do—now published in a new working paper,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

February 2025
Case

Doing Business in Kigali, Rwanda

By: Andy Zelleke, Martin A. Sinozich, Julianne Bliss and Choetsow Tenzin

Rwanda’s transformation from a post-genocide recovery effort to one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies presents a compelling case for investors and business leaders. With an ambitious Vision 2050 strategy, Kigali has emerged as a regional hub for trade, innovation,... View Details

Keywords: Business History; International Relations; Government and Politics; Foreign Direct Investment; Culture; Transformation; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Emerging Markets; Rwanda

Citation

Educators

March 2024
Article

Human Capital Affects Religious Identity: Causal Evidence from Kenya

By: Livia Alfonsi, Michal Bauer, Julie Chytilová and Edward Miguel

We study how human capital and economic conditions causally affect the choice of religious denomination. We utilize a longitudinal dataset monitoring the religious history of more than 5,000 Kenyans over 20 years, in tandem with a randomized experiment (deworming) that... View Details

Keywords: Religion; Human Capital; Developing Countries and Economies; Welfare; Kenya

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2023
Working Paper

Networking Frictions: Evidence from Entrepreneurial Networking Events in Lomé

By: Stefan Dimitiadis and Rembrand Koning

Spatial proximity between firms plays a crucial role in entrepreneurship by creating knowledge spillovers, enabling resource sharing, and sparking productivity gains. Building on these insights, research has explored whether institutions and organizations can engineer... View Details

Keywords: Local Range; Knowledge Sharing; Performance Productivity; Togo

Citation

SSRN

October 2022
Supplement

The SAH Group: The Time is Right, Spreadsheet Supplement

By: Juan Alcacer and Alpana Thapar

In January 2021, Jalila Mezni, CEO of the SAH Group, was preparing to present the company’s future growth plans to its board of directors. The Tunisian company was a leading producer and distributor of personal care and packaged hygiene products. In 2019, it expanded... View Details

Keywords: Growth Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Investment Decisions; Growth Management; Vertical Integration; Distribution; Competition; Strategy; Supply Chain; Presentations; Market Entry and Exit; Product Positioning; Consumer Products Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Health Industry; Tunisia

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December 2022
Article

Social Skills Improve Business Performance: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial with Entrepreneurs in Togo

By: Stefan Dimitriadis and Rembrand Koning

Recent field experiments demonstrate that advice, mentorship, and feedback from randomly assigned peers improve entrepreneurial performance. These results raise a natural question: what is preventing entrepreneurs and managers from forming these peer connections... View Details

Keywords: Social Skills; Business Performance; Entrepreneurs; Peer Relationships; Field Experiment; Entrepreneurship; Performance; Relationships; Interpersonal Communication; Togo

2022
Article

Alleviating Time Poverty Among the Working Poor: A Pre-Registered Longitudinal Field Experiment

By: A.V. Whillans and Colin West

Poverty entails more than a scarcity of material resources—it also involves a shortage of time. To examine the causal benefits of reducing time poverty, we conducted a longitudinal feld experiment over six consecutive weeks in an urban slum in Kenya with a sample of... View Details

Keywords: Time; Subjective Well Being; Administrative Costs; Friction; Poverty; Well-being; Money; Perception; Kenya

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December 2017
Case

Piracy in Somalia (A)

By: Sophus A. Reinert and Alissa Davies

A Somali fisherman stands on a beach in early 2011, considering his options: should he embark in his tiny fishing vessel or join a nearby pirate crew? His war-ravaged country, entering its 20th year of civil war, was in the midst of a famine that had claimed hundreds... View Details

Keywords: Pirates; Foreign Aid; Civil War; Private Property; Human Rights; Economic Development; Globalization; War; Property; Crime and Corruption; Rights; Development Economics; Moral Sensibility; Shipping Industry; Somalia

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21 Mar 2013
Other Presentation

Building a Competitive Nigeria: The Role of the National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria

By: Michael E. Porter

This presentation draws on ideas from Professor Porter's articles and books, in particular, The Competitive Advantage of Nations (The Free Press, 1990), "Building the Microeconomic Foundations of Competitiveness," in The Global Competitiveness Report (World Economic... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Nigeria

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