Entrepreneurship plus innovation equals economic growth

Countries across the African continent are grappling with the challenge of how to create the millions of jobs that are needed to solve chronic poverty and massive unemployment and to stimulate real economic growth. One solution to this problem lies in a combination of entrepreneurship and innovation. Research on economic growth globally over the last 30 years has highlighted that rapid job creation comes from rapidly growing companies. There is something that the developing world can learn from this. By encouraging the creation of new companies that have the potential to grow rapidly by providing much needed new products or services, the world’s developing countries will be able to provide the essential jobs their rapidly increasing populations need. This new breed of companies will make their impact by creating new markets, exploiting existing market niches, inventing new products, and finding new ways of delivering essential services or processes that have few competitors or substitutes. The combination of innovation, market demand created by new markets, and the will of a new breed of ambitous entrepreneurs keen to make a difference to the African continent they come from, can create a new type of company. One that is capable of maintaining high levels of profitability, rapid expansion of production, and stimulating new employment opportunities at scale. Entrepreneurship plus innovation really can equal economic growth.