Transformative Entrepreneurs and Urban Development Deficit in Africa

Abstract

The share of urban Africans is projected to increase 50 percent between 2010 and 2030; making Africa urbanization rate the world's highest. Either such a rate can trigger economic growth, social transformation, and poverty reduction; or alternatively, it can generate more inequality, urban poverty, and the proliferation of slums. The right choice will be shaped by the effectiveness of urban development actors, the efficacy of their industrial and urban policies, the efficiency of implementation tools designed to achieve integrated urban Africa. The reality has been a decline in the public-sector efforts to tackle the problems of industrialization and urban development deficit. However, hope is rising as some transformational entrepreneurs are creating jobs in urban and rural areas to tackle Africa's urban development deficit. This chapter explores the role of Dangote Group as an example of the rising transformative enterprise that is changing African development landscape.