Two of the more standout features of the African marketplace have the distinct dual pleasure of being its greatest attractions and possible hindrances. I am referring to taxes – or lack thereof, and bargaining – or license to boycott goods control.

I was in the Masai market in Nairobi the other day and the price of a particular statue ranged from three hundred shillings if you were a native to five thousand if you were a Mzungu (white man). Now this is what I most love about my continent but the problem with flexible prices is inconsistent quality. Since only the maker knows the product’s true value, and the customers are often one-time tourists, the onus for quality is limited to the goods of the competition.

Competition should normally be sufficient to induce top quality unless inferior products are the norm. And that is exactly the problem – the average maker is not too concerned about the quality of his work on this continent. Mediocrity is fine because the customer allows it. The only way to transcend this is for the customer to demand better – which will not happen without experiencing the alternative. Or for the government to institute better quality, which they do not notice as they import everything.

The cost of business is extraordinary given insufficient infrastructure. This is why we need that wonderful enemy – taxes. The absence of taxes has seduced the populace into allowing irresponsibility on the part of the government. ‘Because the government takes nothing from us, we don’t have a right to demand anything from them’ – an erroneous assumption that fosters bad governance and a docile populace.

We must pay our taxes so we are forced to make the government accountable. Until the government provides support for businesses, few will find the need or resources to exhibit better products.

Robert Litan, director of research at Kauffman Foundation – a firm that specializes in promoting innovation in America said, “Between 1980 and 2005, virtually all net new jobs created in the U.S. were created by firms that were 5 years old or less”. “That is about 40 million jobs. That means the established firms created no new net jobs during that period.”

Due to globalization, every existing job or position has either been taken or outsourced. In these times, the necessity of start-ups cannot be overstated. In Africa, it means we need the private sector to step up. We need the creative talents that have fled the continent to return with their acquired expertise.

This does not excuse the government of its responsibilities. In a developing society, they are the premier source for generating employment. However, the reliance on them for innovation is misplaced. We saw with the GSM that all the market needs is an enabling environment; expediency and profits handle the rest. In Nigeria, the government simply granted licenses, in a couple of years, business transactions were made more efficient, and thousands of jobs were created.

Due to the continental lack of infrastructure, there is a huge avenue for government induced job creation, both in building the amenities and in maintaining them. But soon enough that number will stagnate. I am more interested in what happens next.

For every four blacks on the African continent, one is a Nigerian. This means (like it or not), the proportion of able bodied, adequately educated, aptly funded individuals possible of sustaining job-creating start-ups will favor that country. I say this because of the shenanigans pulled in Ghana last year. Due to the electricity shortages in Nigeria, Nigerian business flocked there in droves and helped spur the economy. International organizations soon followed, and suddenly Nigerian licenses were being revoked.

The difficulty faced by non-Kenyan Africans in starting and sustaining a business in Kenya is ridiculous, yet Indians own the majority of industries – land, manufacturing, and retail. I would have no problem with this but the profits are sent to India and the hired labors are imported from India – none of this is good news for our continent.

The point of these illustrations is to state that African countries need to be more business friendly towards fellow Africans. It is imperative. Mo Ibrahim, the wealthy Sudanese businessman has been often quoted as saying individually African countries cannot be competitive on their own.

War between two nations usually stems because of money, because people care about their money. We need Africans to have financial stakes in the continent so they would care about what is happening in it.

Finally, I am not a protectionist by any means, and I think Ethiopia is taking it a bit far (you can’t buy Kelloggs in the supermarket), but I really think the rest of the continent like them need to start contemplating import embargoes. We should take the China route; our markets are young and should be protected. Inter-African trade should be developed and protected. The borders should be opened for people, goods, and businesses. Little known fact, Canada is the only country that can service all their current needs without imports. Perhaps it is why they never war.

OSK stands for the Other Side of Kobo.  A kobo is the smallest denominator of Nigeria’s currency, the Naira.  The firm, started by three graduates of Baylor University who returned to Nigeria, is a full service financial information company.

Starting with Nigeria, they aim to make it easier for people to invest in Africa by:

1. Organizing Africa’s financial information
2. Making it that information universally accessible and acceptable; and
3. Setting accountability standards in the financial market.

Their vision is to establish a well-informed and equipped investor lifestyle in Nigeria by making the facts of the market available and easily accessible.

Born and raised in Ghana, Femi Adetola graduated in May 2006 from Wesleyan College in Georgia. Although her family name traces back to the Yoruba sub-nation of Nigeria, Femi’s family has been Ghanaian for generations.

She moved home in November of 2006 and while completing Law School at the University of Ghana, she launched her restaurant, Red Chilli. Just over a year old, the business employs 12 people and makes at least $1200 per week (on a bad week). Hear her thoughts on leaving America for life back home and what it’s like to launch a business at 24.

This is the story of Tadiwos Belete, an Ethiopian entrepreneur that had taken his little and turned it into very much. He was a teenager when he’d fled Ethiopia in 1980, six years after the coup that ushered in the Derg communist government of Mengistu Haile Mariam.  In 1983, he was granted refugee asylum to the United States. He tried his hands at a restaurant and at promoting Ethiopian artists until 1989 when he enrolled in a school for hairdressers, working nights as a parking lot attendant. He then worked his way up from assistant stylist to salon manager before pooling resources with seven other entrepreneurs to open the salon on Newbury Street.

Belete has transplanted his success from Newbury Street to Bole Road in Ethiopia. He bought a piece of land along Bole and began construction on what is now the eight-story Boston Partners building in Addis Ababa. Read the full story

In Michael Porter’s article, The Competitive Advantage of the Inner City, I found striking parallels between the inner city in the United States and struggling economies in Africa. The article’s assertion that inner cities are located in what should be economically valuable areas rang true for Africa – a land of oil and precious metal deposits and climates ideal for growing almost anything. Also, just as the inner city market itself represents the most immediate opportunity for urban-based entrepreneurs and businesses, other African nations represent the most immediate opportunity for African entrepreneurs and businesses. Read the full story