Keep Up With Global Black News

Sign up to our newsletter to get the latest updates and events from the leading Afro-Diaspora publisher straight to your inbox.

BY Caroline Theuri, 1:00pm November 30, 2016,

Namibia Ranked Most Entrepreneurial African Country in 2016

by Caroline Theuri, 1:00pm November 30, 2016,
Namibian entrepreneurs like Ally Angula’s, whose clothing company was crowned the best woman-owned business at the 2015 GES, has helped grow the country's entrepreneurship culture. Photo Credit: Enterprise54

The Mara Foundation, a seed funded social enterprise that was founded in 2009, has released its first study titled, “Ashish J. Thakkar Global Entrepreneurship Index 2016,” which claims that Namibia is the most entrepreneurial African country this year.

The southern African country is ranked 42 out of 85 global countries in the study.

Namibia narrowly beat out Rwanda, Botswana, and South Africa, which were ranked 43, 44, and 46 respectively.

“The rank was based on five pillars representing the barriers faced by entrepreneurs. These are poor infrastructure, government policies, education, finance, and the entrepreneurial environment,” states the study.

Namibia is the most entrepreneurial country in Africa. Photo Credit: Operation World

A new study claims that Namibia is the most entrepreneurial country in Africa. Photo Credit: Operation World

Other African countries also score highly on certain pillars, including Zambia, which is the highest ranked African country in finance with a rank of 72. Ethiopia’s entrepreneurial environment is ranked 59th, while Tunisia is ranked 58 in education.

Entrepreneurship in Africa

Africa is home to a wide range of entrepreneurs who are producing innovations in various industries, including education, health, financial technology services, mobile applications, and renewable energy.

According to goal nine of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda, entrepreneurship can reduce poverty in the continent through the creation of employment. This is why Nigerian economist Tony Elumelu is among many African angel investors who are annually funding entrepreneurs in Africa.

Other players in the continent’s entrepreneurial ecosystem include accelerators, angel investors, crowdfunders, incubators, mentors, scale-ups, start-ups, and venture capitalists.

However, the study argues that there is still a need to ensure African entrepreneurs have access to the right entrepreneurial environment, education, financial support, infrastructure, and policy.

Last Edited by:Charles Gichane Updated: June 19, 2018

Conversations

Must Read

Connect with us

Join our Mailing List to Receive Updates

Face2face Africa | Afrobeatz+ | BlackStars

Keep Up With Global Black News and Events

Sign up to our newsletter to get the latest updates and events from the leading Afro-Diaspora publisher straight to your inbox, plus our curated weekly brief with top stories across our platforms.

No, Thank You