What is "africapitalism"

Africapitalism is the economic philosophy that the African private sector has the power to transform the continent through long-term investments, creating both economic prosperity and social wealth. A think-thank tasked with studying the philosophy, the Africapitalism Institute was formally launched during the 2014 World Economic Forum on Africa in Abuja, Nigeria in May of that year.

Nigerian philanthropist, private investor and former banker Tony O. Elumelu first iterated the term in 2011, which has been likened to concepts including " inclusive capitalism", "impact investing," "conscious capitalism" and "philanthro-capitalism.". However, the neo-capitalism philosophy most closely associated with Africapitalism is the theory of " creating shared value" — a concept defined in a Harvard Business Review article titled "Creating Shared Value: Redefining Capitalism and the Role of the Corporation in Society", written by renowned economist, Professor Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The central premise behind creating shared value is that the competitiveness of a company and the health of the communities around it are mutually dependent.