Nomvula Mabuza | May 6, 2025
Africa faces a tough paradox.
The continent is at the edge of crisis and transformation as 50% youth unemployment rates are skyrocketing in South Africa alone and populations are projected to reach 2.5 billion times by 2050.
Can long-stuffed black-owned businesses by systematic exclusion be ignited by the industrial revolution that marries growth and equity? The evidence says yes.
From Nigerian fintech pioneers to South Africa's green energy innovators, black entrepreneurs have set paths defined by local ingenuity and sustainable impact.
However, those possibilities remain suppressed by structural barriers.
This work analyzes the problem, uncovers the root cause, and advances the practical course. This is because Africa's future is no less than that.
“The future of Africa is in the hands of entrepreneurs, who turn challenges into opportunities for inclusive growth,” says Akinwumi Adesina, chairman of the African Development Bank.
That vision is unfolding now. Black-owned businesses are not waiting for permission to rebuild Africa's economy.
Nigeria: PayStack, Flutterwave, Black Fintechs processes over $10 billion a year and digitizes millions of commerce.
•Kenya: Twiga Foods links 100,000 smallholder farmers to the market, reduces food waste by 30% and raises revenue.
•Ghana: By 2022, over 100,000 solar power generation in PEG Africa had electrified rural homes and created 1,000 jobs.
•South Africa: Kiara Health, a 100% black-owned pharmaceutical company, employs more than 200 people, produces affordable medicines and tackles healthcare gaps.
In South Africa, black industrialists generated R80 billion in 2023, but their footprints have been extended to the occasion. Black ownership in manufacturing and energy is 8.5%. The continental whole, small businesses – many black reds – are fueled by 80% of their jobs, but only 20% of GDP. This mismatch screams inefficiency. Scaling these companies could potentially turbo-charge growth, but only if you address chokeholds.
The barrier is not an accident. They are heritage.
South Africa has lined up policies of black economic empowerment, with black ownership in key sectors sticking to less than 10%.
Capital is a chokepoint. Black entrepreneurs have only 15% of their venture capital compared to White Pier, and Ghanaian small businesses are 30% less likely to acquire loans and Nigerian companies, making them crippling interest rates of 20%. The infrastructure is another shackle. Country Kenyan companies spend 15% of their revenue on generators due to unstable electricity.
In South Africa, the Strand Township business is the tinsel transport network. A 2022 survey showed that SMEs were reducing productivity by 40% across sub-Saharan Africa, pegging infrastructure deficits.
These burdens hit black entrepreneurs the most violently. Africa's industrial lags reflect the sudden changes of the past. The British Industrial Revolution expelled wealth, but like the pioneer of Rochdale in 1844, it starved workers until cooperatives and reforms were deprived of profits. Japan's postwar boom relied on comprehensive policies (small business support and rural investment) that turned rarity into strength.
This contrasts with the African extractive colonial model, where resources flowed and locals remained on the sidelines.
Black-owned businesses today are flipping through that script. South Africa's Bio2watt Biogas Plant, Black-led plant, has a power of 4.5 MW, leaking 20% ​​of its profits to local schools. The Lake Turkana Wind Project in Kenya combines community benefits with 310 MW of production.
Globally, Chilean indigenous mining cooperatives guide local wealth. These are not abnormal, they are principles. Inclusion drives resilience.
The African industry leap must embed this lesson or risk repeating history mistakes. Black entrepreneurs equip technology as abuse ram. Nigerian fintech duo PayStack and Flutterwave, Globalize Sme.
Twiga Foods' digital platform reduces agricultural losses by 25%. Peg Africa's solar grid illuminates the fringes of Ghana. In South Africa, Bio2watt's green energy model suggests a renewable sector of 2 million jobs by 2030.
Take Thandiwe Nkosi from Kiara Health. With a modest loan, she launched a pharmaceutical company in 2010. Against fundraising refusal and regulatory maze, she has built a strong team of 200 people that prevent what is possible when talent meets tenacity.
Her story is not unique. It's a signal.
Here's how to build this:
• Capital: launches a Pan Africa VC fund for black-owned small businesses backed by equity guarantees for risky investments.
•Skills: Seed Township Incubator for high-tech and green industry training.
•Zone: SuperCharge SEZ with tax cuts for pharmaceutical companies and black-led renewable energy companies.
• Ownership: Mandates a black interest of 51% in the strategic sector – the West must remain local.
• Trade: Catapart black businesses into local supply chains using AFCFTA.
Imagine this: By 2040, township microfactories will unleash solar panels owned by the workers who run them. Kwazulu-Natal Steel Co-op Funds Roads; Ghana's textile hubs thrive with artisanal equity.
Black-led innovation not only grows GDP, but redefines it, reduces urban sprawl, and positions Africa as the world's ethical production hub. In a world tackling inequality and climate crisis, an inclusive model of Africa can light the way for everything, not just for the continent. However, physics requires strength.
African governments, banks and citizens must dismantle barriers, including fundamental shortages that choke this future, gaps in skills, and corrupt infrastructure.
Black entrepreneurs lit sparks.
Policymakers, investors, citizens – do you incite it to flames or let it flicker?
Nomvula Mabuza is a risk governance and compliance specialist with extensive experience in strategic risk and industrial operations. She is an MBA candidate at Henry Business School in South Africa.
“Disclaimer – the views and opinions expressed in this article are the views of the author and are not necessarily those of the Bee Room.”
