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Entrepreneurship, Government, and Development in Africa

John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor: September 21, 2009; Running Time: 1:15:00

About the Lecture

About the Lecture

After centuries of insufferable oppression by colonial powers, bloody independence struggles, and corrupt home-grown regimes, “Africa today is quickly awakening, and determined to mainstream itself in the phenomenon of the globalization process,” says John Kufuor, who served as Ghana’s president for two terms starting in 2000. Kufuor recounts how Ghana transcended its dark history to attain astonishing political and economic progress, establishing the nation as an exemplar for fellow African states.

In a brisk history lesson, Kufuor accounts for the lag between Africa and other continents in socioeconomic development: geography kept Africa outside ancient trading routes, and when “marauding” Europeans eventually encountered Africa, it was “more or less a one-sided, institutional gang rape...” Denied citizenship and rights, for 600 years “the African ego and personality was assailed and trampled upon.”

Following World War 2, colonial powers relinquished their African holdings, but successor native governments were often little better, says Kufuor, spouting revolutionary rhetoric, and stifling “visionary individualism and creativity.” State control meant “private capital formation went underground.”

African rulers maintained attachments to their “former European overlords,” who imported Africa’s resources “raw on concessionary terms.” Kufuor blames the “stinginess” of foreign entrepreneurs, their unwillingness to “add value” to these products, for African nations’ current paucity of medium and large-scale business. But Ghana’s trick was to transform this disadvantage -- a large pool of small, agriculturally based businesses -- into the centerpiece of an economic revival. Kufuor cites in particular cocoa farmers, responsible for one of Ghana’s principal exports, who own on average no more than three acres. When he arrived in office, Kufuor determined to support the “self-reliant, risk-taking initiative” of such farmers and other small-scale businesses, recognizing that they were key to “unleashing the potential wealth of the nation.”

His government pursued debt forgiveness by the IMF; separating the central bank from the president’s office; and distributing more banking licenses and lowering lending rates. Aid to farmers with trading, modernization, irrigation, and other infrastructure led to unprecedented economic growth: the GDP quadrupled over an eight year period beginning in 2000, with growth at 7.3% last year. Government “had promised to usher the country into a golden age,” says Kufuor, and came through not just with economic policies, but with investment in education and a national health insurance plan for all citizens. Two years ago, oil was discovered offshore, and Kufuor, “proud of having laid a solid foundation” for Ghana, prays that this find will prove “a blessing and not a curse, for the good of all our sons and daughters.”

Lecture Details

Location: 34-101

“For a long time, lip service was paid to the private sector as an engine to economic growth. Governments had rather presided over hundreds of state operations, farms and fisheries -- run inefficiently into total collapse. Numerous technocratic managers, many of whom carried MBA degrees from reputable universities, often behaved like regular civil servants, with tenure.... My government decided to give credit where credit was due, and position the entire polity to appreciate the strategic role that the private sector needed to play to unleash the potential wealth of the nation. ”

John Kufuor

About the Speaker

John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor

Former President, Ghana (2001-2009)

John Kufuor helped lead Ghana during its first peaceful democratic transition, focusing on modernizing agriculture, improving infrastructure and attracting direct foreign investment. Kufuor championed the nation's entrepreneurs, and promoted transparency in government. He is also a former chairperson of the African Union (2007-2008).

In 2008, Kufuor became a partner in the World Food Programme’s “Fill the Cup” drive to provide nutritious school meals to millions of hungry children. “Every nation’s future rests on nutritious food and education for its children,” he said.

Kufuor earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Oxford University before becoming a lawyer. But he soon turned to politics, serving as member of parliament, deputy foreign minister and secretary for local government before becoming Ghana’s president in 2001.

John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor

Ghanaweb biography of John Kufuor

About the Host

About the Host

Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship

The Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship was founded on the belief that economic progress and good governance in low-income countries emerge from entrepreneurship and innovations that empower ordinary citizens. The Center was founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2007 through a structured gift of $50 million from Legatum, a global investment firm. The Center administers programs and convenes events that promote and shape discourse on bottom-up development. Led by Iqbal Z. Quadir, founder of GrameenPhone and Emergence BioEnergy, the Center runs a highly competitive fellowship program for MIT graduate students who intend to launch enterprises in low-income countries. In addition, the Center convenes an annual conference, hosts lectures, and supports teams of enterprising men and women at MIT who are passionate about starting viable businesses in the developing world.