Publications

August 2024
Case

Ashesi University: The Journey from Vision to Reality

By: Ranjay Gulati and Caroline de Lacvivier

In 1997, Patrick Awuah had a dream: to bring liberal arts education to Ghana. Amid the country’s declining economy and pervasive corruption problems, Awuah saw education as an opportunity to reverse its fortunes by investing in the next generation of African leaders.... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Leadership Development; Growth Management; Mission and Purpose; Private Ownership; Education Industry; Ghana

August 2024
Case

Zipline: Expanding the World's Largest Autonomous Drone Delivery Network

By: Tarun Khanna and George Gonzalez

Zipline initially established the world's largest logistics network in Rwanda and Ghana by delivering medical supplies to hospitals via automated drones from a centralized hub. The company is now looking to expand to the U.S. home delivery market and designed a... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Logistics; Expansion; Air Transportation; Business Model; Rwanda; Ghana; United States

August 2023
Teaching Note

Aphro Beverages

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 823-044. View Details

Keywords: Channel Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Africa; Ghana; Nigeria

April 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Background Note

Note on Healthcare in Ghana

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Ben Creo

This note provides an overview of the healthcare system in Ghana. It discusses the public and private sector as well as traditional medical practice. It also discusses the country’s pharmaceutical industry. It is recommended as a companion to Professor Regina... View Details

Keywords: Africa; Pharmaceutical Companies; Pharmacy Benefit Manager; Health Care; Health Care Costs; Health Care Delivery; Health Care Entrepreneurship; Telehealth; Health Equity; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Care and Treatment; Business and Government Relations; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Ghana

February 2023 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Doing Business in Accra, Ghana

By: Hakeem Belo-Osagie, Leonard Schlesinger and Namrata Arora

This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Ghana. It highlights Ghana economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2024 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main obstacles... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Business and Government Relations; Technological Innovation; Foreign Direct Investment; Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Agribusiness; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Ghana

October 2022 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Aphro Beverages

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Amram Migdal

This case focuses on distribution, sales, and product decisions as Aphro Beverages reaches an inflection point in its growth trajectory. In 2020, Aphro Beverages, based in Accra, Ghana, successfully launched its brand and brought two new alcoholic spirits products to... View Details

2022
Working Paper

Social Protection and Social Distancing During the Pandemic: Mobile Money Transfers in Ghana

By: Dean Karlan, Matt Lowe, Robert Osei, Isaac Osei-Akoto, Benjamin N. Roth and Christopher Udry

We study the impact of mobile money transfers to a representative sample of low-income Ghanaians during the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement of the upcoming transfers affects neither consumption, well-being, nor social distancing. Once disbursed,... View Details

Keywords: Social Distancing; Social Welfare; Economic Relief; Health Pandemics; Poverty

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March 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Case

MTN: Unlocking Value While Driving Socioeconomic Progress

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Dilyana Karadzhova Botha

On March 10, 2021, Ralph Mupita the new CEO of MTN Group, Africa's largest telecommunications company, presented the group’s 2020 annual results and unveiled a new strategy to “drive growth and unlock value.” Despite MTN’s leadership in most of its markets, the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Goals and Objectives; Valuation; Emerging Markets; Business Strategy; Financial Management; Information Technology; Corporate Finance; Telecommunications Industry; Africa; South Africa; Ghana; Nigeria

March 2022
Case

In Data We Trust: Be Mobile Africa and Furthering Financial Inclusion Across the African Continent

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Pierre Marchesseault

To Cédric Jeannot, leveraging technology to promote financial inclusion was personal. After no established financial institution would accept his technology platform to lower transaction costs for free, Jeannot launched FinTech company Be Mobile Africa in May 2020.... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Fintech; Emerging Market; Fundraising; Financial Inclusion; Strategy; Expansion; Management; Entrepreneurship; Personal Finance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; Africa; Togo; Nigeria; Ghana

October 2021 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Project Maji: Pricing Water in Sub-Saharan Africa

By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and Esel Çekin

In July 2021, Sunil Lalvani, founder and CEO of Project Maji, a non-profit social enterprise headquartered in Dubai that had already provided sustainable, clean water solutions to 80,000 people living in rural communities across Ghana and Kenya, was facing an important... View Details

Keywords: Water; Pricing; Nonprofit Organizations; Projects; Price; Decision Making; Social Enterprise; Growth and Development Strategy; Equity; Green Technology; Social and Collaborative Networks; Africa; Dubai

January 2021
Case

mPharma (A)

By: Rembrand Koning, John D. Macomber, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Wale Lawal

mPharma pioneered electronic prescriptions in Ghana, and aimed to increase drug affordability and accessibility in Africa, but the company remained unprofitable. Following investor concerns about mPharma's business, CEO Gregory Rockson considered alternative business... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Acquisition; Health; Business Model; Health Industry; Technology Industry; Ghana

January 2021
Supplement

mPharma (B)

By: Rembrand Koning, John D. Macomber, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Wale Lawal

mPharma pioneered electronic prescriptions in Ghana, and aimed to increase drug affordability and accessibility in Africa, but the company remained unprofitable. Following investor concerns about mPharma's business, CEO Gregory Rockson considered alternative business... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Health; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Health Industry; Technology Industry; Ghana

November 2020 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Zipline: The World's Largest Drone Delivery Network

By: Tarun Khanna and George Gonzalez

Zipline established the world's largest logistics network in Rwanda and Ghana by delivering medical supplies to hospitals via automated drones. The company is now looking to expand in the U.S. and partnered with Walmart to expand into home delivery. Zipline must... View Details

Keywords: Drones; Business Startups; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States; Africa

January 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

CrossBoundary Energy

By: John Macomber

Almost 500 million people are without electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. Governments and public utilities are challenged to bring generation and distribution to most of them. Considerable promise exists in “off-grid” or “mini-grid” technologies, notably using renewable... View Details

Keywords: Energy Investing; Economic Development; Renewable Energy; Business Growth and Maturation; Developing Countries and Economies; Project Finance; Emerging Markets; Industry Structures; Infrastructure; Segmentation; Private Equity; Decision Choices and Conditions; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; Africa; Tanzania; Ghana

November 2018 (Revised January 2021)
Case

Peak Investment Capital

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Kobbina Awuah (MBA 2014) became intrigued with the possibility of adapting Entrepreneurship through Acquisition in Ghana, where he grew up and where his family still lived. While he knew he could work for a multi-national enterprise located in Ghana, he was confident... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship In Africa; Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition; Entrepreneurship; Acquisition; Ghana

2015
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Robert Meaney and Technology for Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Renee Vuillaume

Two Valmont Industries (an international leader in infrastructure products and services) colleagues, Robert (Bob) Meaney and Richard Berkland hoped to improve the lives of small and medium-sized farmers in the developing world through modern irrigation technology. In... View Details

September 2012 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Doing Business in Ghana

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Elena Corsi

An entrepreneur considered investing in tomato paste manufacturing in Ghana, an emerging economy, and pondered the opportunities and challenges of investing here. Ghana's economy had been growing over the last decade, reaching a peak of 14.4% growth rate in 2011. Now a... View Details

Keywords: Emergent Countries; Strategy; Opportunity Cost; Emerging Markets; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Ghana

February 2012 (Revised October 2013)
Case

OpenIDEO

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Anne-Laure Fayard, Natalia Levina and Stephanie Healy Pokrywa

The case describes OpenIDEO, an online offshoot of IDEO, one of the world's leading product design firms. OpenIDEO leverages IDEO's innovative design process and an online community to create solutions for social issues. Emphasis is placed on comparing the IDEO and... View Details

Keywords: Social Issues; Product Design; Social and Collaborative Networks; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Ghana; New Zealand

July 2009 (Revised May 2010)
Case

The Millennium Challenge Corporation and Ghana

By: Alnoor Ebrahim and V. Kasturi Rangan

A U.S. government agency, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), provides aid to developing countries, focusing on poverty reduction through economic growth. It measures results through an economic rate of return based on increases in farmer incomes anticipated... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Investment Return; Measurement and Metrics; Welfare; Ghana; United States