Africa’s crisis of economic underdevelopment is tied to the continent’s inability to sustain the reproduction of entrepreneurial knowledge, owing to the marginalization of endogenous systems of creating and transmitting such knowledge from one generation to another. The marginalization of endogenous entrepreneurial knowledge in Africa can be traced to the continent’s historical antecedents, which include the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the colonial legacy, globalization, coupled with modernization, lack of documentation and the consequent disregard for cultural worldviews, including indigenous entrepreneurial knowledge dynamics.
Entrepreneurial knowledge refers to the skills, expertise and understanding required to start, manage, grow and sustain a business. Entrepreneurial knowledge is acquired through several means, such as formal education, mentorship, networking, self-study and experience. However, entrepreneurial knowledge in Africa is a social and cultural construct, existing as a product of cultural values, traditions, practices and power-dynamics. African traditional systems of entrepreneurship are often socially-oriented, based on communal values, initiatives, traditions and practices, which are directed towards the needs of the community. Products of entrepreneurial knowledge in Africa include textiles and fabrics, woodcarvings and crafts, food and beverages, amongst others.
The epistemology of entrepreneurship in Africa involves the study of the nature, sources and limitations of entrepreneurial knowledge in African cultures and societies. African entrepreneurship is deeply rooted in cultural and social contexts, with entrepreneurs adopting traditional knowledge and taking advantage of community relations to make economic earnings. Entrepreneurial knowledge in the African traditional context can be described as community-based knowledge, which is couched in the endogenous epistemic categories, thought-systems and traditions of the people. African endogenous entrepreneurial knowledge is context-specific, since it is internally generated and focused on benefitting the particular community from which it evolves. The communal spirit is considered as a driving force for entrepreneurs in some cultural contexts, while it could also place huge burdens on entrepreneurs. Most African cultures emphasize the importance of the communal orientation in entrepreneurship activities, which limits individual liberty to withhold entrepreneurial knowledge from the community.
Even despite its massive theorization within liberal western epistemological framework, entrepreneurship is essentially a practice that captures the cultural and human capacity to manage resources for survival. Entrepreneurship has been in practice across generations and cultures, as evident in the organized trading systems, skills, arts and crafts and other cultural products that were commercialized in pre-colonial Africa, particularly prior to the trans-Atlantic slave trade Among the Yoruba of West Africa, for example, there are three basic classes of indigenous entrepreneurs—those who commercialize natural skills, those who combine learning with innate skills to modify their inventions or products, and lastly those who commercialize activities of buying and selling. The first category of entrepreneurs includes groups of skilled men and women like the onílù or àyan (drummers), asunrárà or olórikì (the praise singers), agbẹ́gilẹrẹ (woodcraft, sculpture), onídìrí (hairdressers) and so on. These groups of entrepreneurs deploy their talents to earn intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. The second category of entrepreneurs combine learning with skills, through the modification of old ideas to produce unique products, geared towards achieving greater economic gains. The third class of entrepreneurs comprises of the itinerant traders (alájàpá) and the petty traders (aláròbo). The alájàpá deal with bulk sales, just like modern-day wholesalers, while the aláròbo are the retailers or middlemen who sell to the consumers.
Endogenous frameworks of reproducing entrepreneurial knowledge amongst the Yoruba include the family lineage system and apprenticeship. The three classes of entrepreneurs identified above were able to sustain their trades and skills across centuries through inherited knowledge passed across generations through the family lineage and training from childhood. The onílù or àyan, who engage in the practice and trade of drumming represent a family lineage that has chosen drumming as a traditional occupation, which also automatically becomes the occupation of any child born into the family. This same practice is extended to the asunrárà, agbẹ́gilẹrẹ, onídìrí and other family-based occupations in Yoruba culture. The reproduction of endogenous entrepreneurial knowledge in Yoruba culture through family lineage foreshadows the people’s metaphysical belief in ancestral heritage, since the ancestors are believed to play an active role in influencing their destiny and fortunes. The belief in ancestral heritage amongst the Yoruba is also reflected in the practice of iron metallurgy, involving the alágbèdé (producers of iron implements and tools) who traditionally worship the Ogun deity, who is considered as the first iron-smith.
The retrogression witnessed in the practice of iron metallurgy, just like most other traditional skills and trades in Africa, is a consequence of the poor reproduction of entrepreneurial knowledge on the continent, due to the gradual marginalization of endogenous entrepreneurial systems and techniques, occasioned by power-dynamics, such as colonialism, modernity, globalization and neo-colonialism. However, the revitalization of endogenous entrepreneurial knowledge in Africa will require a process of constant revalidation of such knowledge systems to determine their continued relevance for entrepreneurial realities in both local and global contexts. This can be done, for instance, through the revitalization of the traditional means of transmitting knowledge across generations, such as the abandoned lineage and apprenticeship systems. The next step is to document and preserve such bodies of knowledge and traditions that have animated the means of livelihood of Africans over the years. A neat articulation and integration of endogenous entrepreneurial knowledge with formal education will aid the reproduction and re-appropriation of such knowledge in Africa. State support and funding for indigenous entrepreneurship will also help provide the required funding and resources for the promotion of endogenous entrepreneurship in Africa. Demand for local products should also be encouraged, to facilitate the development of innovative solutions that meet local needs.
The Reproduction of Entrepreneurial Knowledge in Africa ByIdris Adesanya Department of Philosophy University of Ibadan Africa’s crisis of economic underdevelopment
The Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network was created to undertake research geared towards identifying, re-centering and harnessing Indigenous knowledge in Africa.
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