The Elite Africa Project is a global network of scholars working to shift how Africa and its elites are understood.

Search the Database

The Elite Africa Project

is a Canadian-based global network of scholars working to challenge predominant understandings of Africa and its elites.

Both in academia and in wider public discourse, African elites have either been ignored or depicted as grasping and self-interested. This framing perpetuates negative depictions of the continent and its peoples and draws on a simplistic understanding of what power is and how it is wielded. Our work aims to counter these perceptions by initiating global conversations about “who leads” in Africa and how they do so.

We seek to disrupt and renew both academic and public discussions of African leadership, refocusing attention on a wider, qualitatively different set of elites from those that have predominated in the past (such as the parasitic “Big Men” of neo-patrimonial politics).

Burna Boy, Nigerian musician, rapper and songwriter; in 2021, his album Twice as Tall won the Best World Music Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, and he enjoyed back to back Grammy award nominations in 2019 and 2020.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian economist, fair trade leader, environmental sustainability advocate, human welfare champion, sustainable finance maven and global development expert. Since March 2021, Okonjo-Iweala has been serving as Director-General of the World Trade Organization.

This project focuses on Africa’s elites, defined as those who operate at the highest level across a range of domains, wield significant power, and possess expert knowledge, skills, and personal strengths that are deployed in strategic, creative, and generative ways. While elites are those who possess the most consequential and powerful agenda-setting and decision-making capacity, Africa’s elites have either been sidelined in many of our analyses or rendered monotonal. When we switch frames to consider the continent as embodying and projecting new, generative forms of power, it changes our view of Africa. It may also change how we understand power itself.

We look at six domains of elite power, from the political to the aesthetic, and ask how we might shift how we think about and study Africa, and how this shift would impact our conceptualization of power and its exercise. Our goal is to contribute to popular conversations about Africa and to highlight the achievements of the astonishing new generation of leaders for a broader public audience.

This website will serve as a hub for collaborative activity by scholars, activists, and practitioners working on Elite Africa and house a searchable database of primary and secondary materials on African elites.

Kofi Annan (1938-2018), Ghanaian-born diplomat, trained in economics, international relations and management; was the first UNSG to be elected from within the ranks of the UN staff itself and served in various key roles before becoming Secretary General.

Namwali Serpell, Zambia award-winning novelist and writer; Recognised early on with the Caine prize, her numerous subsequent awards include the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize, one of the world’s richest literary prizes.

Mohammed "Mo" Ibrahim, Sudanese billionaire businessman. He worked for several telecommunications companies, before founding Celtel, which when sold had over 24 million mobile phone subscribers in 14 African countries.

The Elite Africa Project

is a Canadian-based global network of scholars working to challenge predominant understandings of Africa and its elites.

Both in academia and in wider public discourse, African elites have either been ignored or depicted as grasping and self-interested. This framing perpetuates negative depictions of the continent and its peoples and draws on a simplistic understanding of what power is and how it is wielded. Our work aims to counter these perceptions by initiating global conversations about “who leads” in Africa and how they do so.

We seek to disrupt and renew both academic and public discussions of African leadership, refocusing attention on a wider, qualitatively different set of elites from those that have predominated in the past (such as the parasitic “Big Men” of neo-patrimonial politics).

This project focuses on Africa’s elites — those who operate at the highest level across a range of domains, wield significant power, and possess expert knowledge, skills, and personal strengths that are deployed in strategic, creative, and generative ways. When we switch frames to consider the continent as embodying and projecting new, generative forms of power, it changes our view of Africa. It may also change how we understand power itself.

This website is the hub for collaborative activity by scholars, activists, and practitioners working on Elite Africa and will house a searchable database of primary and secondary materials on African elites.

ELITE AFRICA PROJECT DATABASE

Domains of Power

Clear

Entry Format

Clear

Country of Interest

Clear

Date

Clear
From
To

Tags

Clear
Showing 0 results
of 0 items.
highlight
Reset All
Advanced Search
Filtering by:
Tag
close icon

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

Intergovernmental organization (free trade agreement)

Accra, Ghana
Location: Africa Trade House, Ambassadorial Enclave, Liberia Road, Ridge, Accra
Contact: info@au-afcfta.org/+233 59 692 1130

The AfCFTA is the world’s largest free trade area bringing together the 55 countries of the African Union (AU) and eight (8) Regional Economic Communities (RECs). The overall mandate of the AfCFTA is to create a single continental market with a population of about 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of approximately US$ 3.4 trillion. The AfCFTA is one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, the African Union’s long-term development strategy for transforming the continent into a global powerhouse.

As part of its mandate, the AfCFTA is to eliminate trade barriers and boost intra-Africa trade. In particular, it is to advance trade in value-added production across all service sectors of the African Economy. The AfCFTA will contribute to establishing regional value chains in Africa, enabling investment and job creation. The practical implementation of the AfCFTA has the potential to foster industrialisation, job creation, and investment, thus enhancing the competitiveness of Africa in the medium to long term.

The AfCFTA entered into force on May 30, 2019, after 24 Member States deposited their Instruments of Ratification following a series of continuous continental engagements spanning since 2012. It was launched at the 12th Extraordinary Session of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Niamey – Niger, in July 2019. The commencement of trading under the AfCFTA was in January 1, 2021. The AfCFTA Secretariat is hosted in Accra, Ghana. His Excellency Wamkele Mene is the first elected Secretary-General coordinating the implementation of the Agreement.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

This is some text inside of a div block.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Accra - Ghana

Economic

Africa Prosperity Network

Non-Profit Organization

Accra, Ghana
Location: 25 Third Dade Walk, Labone-Accra, Ghana
contact: info@africaprosperity.network/+233302737879
Website: africaprosperitynetwork.com

The Africa Prosperity Network (APN) is a non-profit organisation founded with the objective of advancing the vision of ‘The Africa We Want’ as outlined in the African Union’s Agenda 2063, with particular focus on promoting Africa’s prosperity and economic integration. APN is the vehicle that runs the Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD), an initiative committed to creating the platforms for partnerships among political and business leaders, civil society and academia in Africa. Our APD provides a trusted convening platform of best practices for knowledge sharing and results-oriented solutions to the challenges facing the African continent. As a continental platform, APN is the fuel that powers both the advocacy and implementation of these results-oriented solutions through strategic partnerships to deliver actionable policies that engender bankable projects. APN takes a 360 degrees approach towards its cross-border and cross-sectoral work, taking into consideration the political, economic, social, and environmental dimensions of Africa’s industrialisation, infrastructure development, economic diversification, security, finance, and legal and regulatory matters. This is aimed at driving the rapid development of the continent through dialogues and consensus building on issues of trade, commerce and strengthening of African economies.

Source: Organization's website.

Africa Prosperity Network

This is some text inside of a div block.

Africa Prosperity Dialogue, Accra - Ghana

Economic
Political

Hilson, Abigail, GavinHilson, and Suleman Dauda. (2019). Corporate Social Responsibility at African Mines: Linking the Past to the Present. Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 241, pp. 340-352.

This paper traces the origins of the 'brand' of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) employed at large-scale mines across sub-Saharan Africa. Conceived within fortified resource enclaves, the policies adopted and actions taken in the area of CSR at many of the region's large-scale mines today have had had minimal effect on community wellbeing. Further examination reveals that contemporary CSR strategy in the region's mining sector is often a 'repackaging' and 'rebranding' of moves made by major operators during the colonial period and early years of country independence to pacify and engage local communities. Today, this work is being championed as CSR but failing to deliver much change, its impact minimized by the economic and political forces at work in an era of globalization, during which extractive industry enclaves that are disconnected from local economies have been able to flourish.

Source: Paper's abstract

Hilson, Abigail, Gavin Hilson, and Suleman Dauda. (2019). Corporate Social Responsibility at African Mines

This is some text inside of a div block.

This paper traces the origins of the 'brand' of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) employed at large-scale mines across sub-Saharan Africa. Conceived within fortified resource enclaves, the policies adopted and actions taken in the area of CSR at many of the region's large-scale mines today have had had minimal effect on community wellbeing.

Economic

Judd Devermont

Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Africa Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies, US

Contact: x.com/jdevermont

Devermont, Judd

This is some text inside of a div block.

Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Africa Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies, US

Political
Coercive

Free Africa Foundation

Washington DC, USA

Phone: +1(202) 296-7081
Email: contact@freeafrica.org
Website: freeafrica.org

Free Africa Foundation

This is some text inside of a div block.

Free Africa Foundation, Washington DC, USA

Economic
Political

Ken Ofori-Atta

Investment banker/former Minister of Finance, Ghana

Ghana
Contact: x.com/kenofori_atta?lang=en

Ofori-Atta, Ken

This is some text inside of a div block.

Investment banker/former Minister of Finance, Ghana

Economic
Political
No results found.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Our distinctive typeface, Format-1452, was designed by Frank Adebiaye, a French-Beninese type designer and founder of the experimental Velvetyne Type Foundry.