Botswana and other African countries lack strong managerial skills, which hold back the economies, a report by the African Management Initiative has said.
The report, titled “Catalysing Management Development in Africa: Identifying Areas of Impact” , shows that poor management is hurting the effectiveness of global multinational corporations, many major local companies, small and medium-sized firms and charitable foundations in many African countries. ?
“We believe good management is the missing link in the African growth story. Good managers make things happen, and we urgently need more of them,” stated the report. The report revealed that Africa needs about one million well-trained and effective managers to drive further growth and development.
Africa has an abundance of natural wealth and a young and fast-growing population. GDP growth has outpaced many other regions over the last decade, driven in part by rising commodity prices, but also by growing domestic demand and increasingly sophisticated local markets.
“If the continent is to capitalise on this potential, it will require managers with vision and competence who possess the personal drive, commercial acumen and technical skills necessary to develop successful and healthy institutions,” reveals the report.
AMI is a non-profit and multi-stakeholder drive to expand access to management education and training in Africa and to promote management best practice across the continent. It was started by the Association of African Business Schools, Global Business Schools Network, the Lundin Foundation and the Tony Elumelu Foundation, and it welcomes new partners, sponsors and donors.?
The research indicates that there is a lack of accessible high quality and relevant management education and training options in Africa. At the top end of the market, Africa lacks high quality business schools attuned to the needs of its dynamic markets. Lower down the scale, there is a lack of practical and accessible programmes that can reach small to medium enterprises, middle managers and entrepreneurs. ?
To help meet the gap highlighted in the research, AMI recently launched a virtual campus for managers in Africa. The web-based portal, supported by online and offline networking opportunities, draws on AMI’s links with Africa’s top business schools. It provides original case studies, a crowd-sourced manager’s toolbox of tools and templates, expert views from top executives, discussion forums, top reads from around the web, a marketplace of training and education providers, jobs, research and a member’s showcase to name a few. ?
AMI’s research estimates that of 111 million Africans in formal employment, about 11 million of these are in managerial or supervisory roles.
“In order to substantially improve the quality of management across Africa, we need to reach 10 percent of those managers ÔÇö one million managers,” stated the report.
AMI is partnering with a range of organizations and companies with a goal of meeting that target by 2023.