Why are there so few black-owned firms in Africa? Preliminary resutls from enterprise survey data

The formal private sector in Sub-Saharan Africa: why are there so few black-owned firms

By: Ramachandran , V & Shah, M. K
Published by: Center for Global Development (CGDEV), USA , 2007
Via: Eldis

Much of the growth in Sub-Saharan Africa in the past decade has come from extractive industries, rather than from private, entrepreneurial activity. Furthermore, non-extractive activity in the private sector is often dominated by firms owned by ethnic minorities.
This paper analyses the characteristics of the formal private sector in five countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular emphasis on Black African-owned firms. It examines the constraints faced by domestic firms in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal and Benin.