From Aid To Trade: New Book Focuses On African Entrepreneurs

April 10, 1998

GAINESVILLE —Just a week after President Clinton returned home from Africa, two professors at the University of Florida hope to continue the focus on the continent and its economy with the release of their book, “African Entrepreneurship: Theory and Reality.”

Co-editors Anita Spring and Barbara E. McDade hope Clinton’s recent visit will change the American strategy from aid to trade with Africa and emphasize that Africa is ready for business.

Spring, UF professor of anthropology and African Studies, said the United States needs to invest more in Africa and encourage the entrepreneurs who fuel Africa’s economy. She said after the fall of apartheid in South Africa, many expected a flood of foreign investors, but that is only slowly starting to materialize.

“Africa is being rediscovered during the visit by the U.S. president,” Spring said. “The trip has put the focus on capital investment in the private sector.”

She said the book addresses the development issues in Africa dealing with production, employment, capital and technical innovation. The 16-chapter volume is a collection of the latest research examining Africa’s entrepreneurs and their impact on job creation, household income and national economic growth.

The book, published this spring by University Press of Florida, looks at the range of entrepreneurial activities from micro enterprises to large industrial manufacturers. Entrepreneurship ranges from the well-recognized market trader to the large-scale international trader.

An underlying question in the book is how entrepreneurs are the engines for economic development. The volume contains studies and observations based on fieldwork, providing concrete examples of African business.

Spring said there are a wide variety of enterprises in Africa with similarities and differences to businesses in other parts of the world.

“Trade or investment will profit by understanding the diversity,” said Spring.

The United States, and Florida in particular, has a vested interest in seeing Africa succeed economically.

Increased trading with Africa could put Florida in the forefront as the closest port to the African coast with West Africa linked to Jacksonville and South Africa connected to Miami as port entry-ways.

“Florida stands to gain a lot,” said McDade, UF assistant professor of economic geography. “Trade with Africa is expected to increase substantially within the next few years.”

McDade said the book tries to “enlighten people on the long tradition of entrepreneurship in Africa.”

She said it “presents a balanced look at the problems and constraints faced by entrepreneurs as well as the progress they have managed to achieve.”