scholarly journals Digital oases and digital deserts in Sub-Saharan Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wentrup ◽  
Patrik Ström ◽  
H. Richard Nakamura
Keyword(s):  
Digital Divide ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Online Service ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Service Usage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Internet Firms ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Sub Saharan

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate whether Sub-Saharan African countries are catching up with the rest of the world in terms of online usage. Online service usage is an important component of the discourse of the “digital divide”, an emblematic term for the inequality of information and communication technology access. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a quantitative analysis of internet and Facebook penetration coupled with economic strength (GDP/capita), literacy and degree of rural population. Findings – The findings reveal a heterogeneous pattern with a few African countries being digital oases and close to European levels, whereas the majority of the countries are still digital deserts. A strong correlation is found between economic strength and internet penetration. A generalist picture that Sub-Saharan is on the trajectory of closing the digital divide is an imprecise reflection of the reality. Research limitations/implications – It is argued that instead of measuring supply-side data, which has been the trend till now, the use of demand-side elements such as online service usage tells more about digital inequalities between countries. Practical implications – The research encourages internet firms to open up their eyes for Sub-Saharan Africa as an investment opportunity with an untapped gap of online usage. Social implications – The three-billion internet users on the planet are unevenly spread and under-represented in Africa. By drawing a heterogeneous online usage landscape, digital policy can be accurately steered toward countries with the largest needs. Originality/value – There is a paucity of research going into the depth of online usage in Africa. The paper is a contribution to fill that gap.

Shadow economy in Africa: how relevant is financial inclusion?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Folorunsho M. Ajide
Keyword(s):  
Shadow Economy ◽  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Development Indicators ◽  
Panel Data Estimation ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Data Estimation ◽  
Toda And Yamamoto

Purpose This study aims to investigate the possible relationship between financial inclusion and shadow economy in selected African countries. Design/methodology/approach The study uses panel data estimation technique and Toda and Yamamoto causality approach. The data of selected African counties over a period of 2005–2015 are sourced from World Bank Development Indicators, International Monetary Fund International Financial statistics database and International Country Risk Guide. Findings The results show that financial inclusion reduces the size of shadow economy. The causality results show that there is a unidirectional causality moving from financial inclusion to shadow economy. The results demonstrate that a country with lower level of corruption and higher level of growth can benefit more in reducing the size of shadow economy through financial inclusion. Originality/value This study provides the first evidence of the link between financial inclusion and shadow economy from the Sub-Saharan Africa perspective. The study suggests that financial inclusion may be useful in affecting the size of shadow economy in Africa.

A critical analysis of water PPP failures in sub-Saharan Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salman Tariq ◽  
Xueqing Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Construction Management ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rigorous Approach ◽  
First Case ◽  
Management Perspective ◽  
Sub Saharan

PurposeTop-down pressure from donors, public sector inefficiencies and fund deficits have steered the introduction of public–private partnerships (PPPs) in sub-Saharan Africa. However, PPP activities in the water sector have been quite insignificant compared to other infrastructure sectors in this region. In addition, a number of water PPPs have encountered great difficulties and subsequent failures. This study aims at unveiling the underlying reasons behind failures.Design/methodology/approachThis study has classified the failure types of water PPPs and reviewed the development of water PPPs in sub-Saharan Africa to identify failed ones. Eight failed case studies are completed through the rigorous approach of event sequence mapping.FindingsNine root causes of water PPP failure are identified through a thorough examination of these failed water PPP cases and the interrelationships between these failure causes are established. The failure causes are further generalized through literature focusing on water PPP failures in developing countries and problematic issues that hinder the implementation of successful water PPPs across different Sub-Saharan African countries. Recommendations are provided for future improvements in carrying out water PPPs in Sub-Saharan Africa by learning past lessons and drawing experiences.Originality/valueThis is the first case study on water PPP failures in Sub-Saharan Africa from a construction management perspective. This study will help governments and the private sector in developing stronger future water PPPs.

scholarly journals The state of business sustainability reporting in sub-Saharan Africa: an agenda for policy and practice

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol A. Tilt ◽  
Wei Qian ◽  
Sanjaya Kuruppu ◽  
Dinithi Dissanayake
Keyword(s):  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
The State ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Sub Saharan

Purpose Developing countries experience their own social, political and environmental issues, but surprisingly limited papers have examined sustainability reporting in these regions, notably in sub-Saharan Africa. To fill this gap and understand the state of sustainability reporting in sub-Saharan Africa, this paper aims to investigate the current state of reporting, identifies the major motivations and barriers for reporting and suggests an agenda of future issues that need to be considered by firms, policymakers and academics. Design/methodology/approach This paper includes analysis of reporting practices in 48 sub-Saharan African countries using the lens of New Institutional Economics. It comprises three phases of data collection and analysis: presentation of overall reporting data collected and provided by Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). analysis of stand-alone sustainability reports using qualitative data analysis and interviews with key report producers. Findings The analysis identifies key issues that companies in selected sub-Saharan African countries are grappling within their contexts. There are significant barriers to reporting but institutional mechanisms, such as voluntary reporting frameworks, provide an important bridge between embedding informal norms and changes to regulatory requirements. These are important for the development of better governance and accountability mechanisms. Research limitations/implications Findings have important implications for policymakers and institutions such as GRI in terms of regulation, outreach and localised training. More broadly, global bodies such as GRI and IIRC in a developing country context may require more local knowledge and support. Limitations include limited data availability, particularly for interviews, which means that these results are preliminary and provide a basis for further work. Practical implications The findings of this paper contribute to the knowledge of sustainability reporting in this region, and provide some policy implications for firms, governments and regulators. Originality/value This paper is one of only a handful looking at the emerging phenomenon of sustainability reporting in sub-Saharan African countries.

“Does the poor matter” in pro-poor driven sub-Saharan African cities? towards progressive and inclusive pro-poor tourism

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 392-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regis Musavengane ◽  
Pius Siakwah ◽  
Llewellyn Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Urban Tourism ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
African Cities ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to question the extent to which Sub-Saharan African cities are progressing towards promoting pro-poor economies through pro-poor tourism (PPT). It specifically examines how African cities are resilient towards attaining sustainable urban tourism destinations in light of high urbanization. Design/methodology/approach The methodological framework is interpretive in nature and qualitative in an operational form. It uses meta-synthesis to evaluate the causal relationships observed within Sub-Saharan African pro-poor economies to enhance PPT approaches, using Accra, Ghana, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Harare, Zimbabwe, as case studies. Findings Tourism development in Sub-Saharan Africa has been dominantly underpinned by neoliberal development strategies which threaten the sustainability of tourism in African cities. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to three Sub-Saharan African countries. Further studies may need to be done in other developing countries. Practical implications It argues for good governance through sustainability institutionalization which strengthens the regulative mechanisms, processes and organizational culture. Inclusive tourism approaches that are resilient-centered have the potential to promote urban tourism in Sub-Saharan African cities. These findings contribute to the building of strong and inclusive Institutions for Sustainable Development in the Sub-Saharan African cities to alleviate poverty. Social implications These findings contribute to the building of strong and inclusive institutions for sustainable development in the Sub-Saharan African cities to alleviate poverty. Originality/value The “poor” are always within the communities, and it takes a community to minimise the impact of poverty among the populace. The study is conducted at a pertinent time when most African government’s development policies are pro-poor driven. Though African cities provide opportunities of growth, they are regarded as centres of high inequality.

Does economic freedom improve health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa?

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (12) ◽  
pp. 1633-1649
Author(s):  
Anand Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of economic freedom on four key health indicators (namely, life expectancy, infant mortality rate, under-five mortality rate and neonatal mortality rate) by using a panel dataset of 34 sub-Saharan African countries from 2005 to 2016.Design/methodology/approachThe study obtains data from the World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank and the Fraser Institute. It uses fixed effects regression to estimate the effect of economic freedom on health outcomes and attempts to resolve the endogeneity problems by using two-stage least squares regression (2SLS).FindingsThe results indicate a favourable impact of economic freedom on health outcomes. That is, higher levels of economic freedom reduce mortality rates and increase life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa. All areas of economic freedom, except government size, have a significant and positive effect on health outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsThis study analyses the effect of economic freedom on health at a broad level. Country-specific studies at a disaggregated level may provide additional information about the impact of economic freedom on health outcomes. Also, this study does not control for some important variables such as education, income inequality and foreign aid due to data constraints.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that sub-Saharan African countries should focus on enhancing the quality of economic institutions to improve their health outcomes. This may include policy reforms that support a robust legal system, protect property rights, promote free trade and stabilise the macroeconomic environment. In addition, policies that raise urbanisation, increase immunisation and lower the incidence of HIV are likely to produce a substantial improvement in health outcomes.Originality/valueExtant economic freedom-health literature does not focus on endogeneity problems. This study uses instrumental variables regression to deal with endogeneity. Also, this is one of the first attempts to empirically investigate the relationship between economic freedom and health in the case of sub-Saharan Africa.

scholarly journals Remittances, ICT and doing business in Sub-Saharan Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simplice Asongu ◽  
Nicholas Biekpe ◽  
Vanessa Tchamyou
Keyword(s):  
Generalized Method Of Moments ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Doing Business ◽  
Time To Build ◽  
Start Up ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Ssa Countries

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how linkages between information and communication technology (ICT) and remittances affect the doing of business. Design/methodology/approach The focus is on a panel of 49 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries for the period 2000–2012. The empirical evidence is based on the generalized method of moments. Findings While the authors establish some appealing results in terms of net negative effects on constraints to the doing of business (i.e. time to start a business and time to pay taxes), some positive net effects are also apparent (i.e. number of start-up procedures, time to build a warehouse and time to register a property). The authors also establish ICT penetration thresholds at which the unconditional effect of remittances can be changed from positive to negative, notably: for the number of start-up procedures, an internet level of 9.00 penetration per 100 people is required, while for the time to build a warehouse, a mobile phone penetration level of 32.33 penetration per 100 people is essential. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to assess linkages between ICT, remittances and doing business in SSA.

An econophysics non-monetized theory of value

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Baer ◽  
Ahmed Bounfour ◽  
Thomas J. Housel
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Distance Measure ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Vector Model ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
African Countries ◽  
High Stake ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sub Saharan

Purpose Mobile phones are radically transforming micro-finance in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Kenya, in particular. The introduction of the micro-financial transaction mobile phone application, “MPesa,” created a means to facilitate micro-transactions without the need for an intermediary, such as a banking system. The purpose of this paper is to posit an econophysics model to predict the value of Mpesa for Kenyan and South African consumers. The econophysics framework posits several fitness matrices and a distance measure that can account for the concepts of mass, distance, momentum, velocity, action, and force. The authors begin with a table of the match between the physics concepts and the economic concepts followed by the vector model that utilizes these concepts for the MPesa application case. In this paper, the authors will argue that MPesa succeeded in Sub-Saharan African countries, such as Kenya, because the fit between what this group of customers needed and the solutions Safaricom’s MPesa offered was a better fit with a smaller distance to adoption than in the South African case. Design/methodology/approach The research develops an econophysics approach to the assessment of micro-finance development in Sub-Saharan countries. Findings The research shows clearly the reasons of the success of MPesa in Kenya in comparison of its relative failure in South Africa: the distance between customers’ expectations and the system supply. Research limitations/implications The research is limited to two case studies and needs to be extended to other contexts, in order to demonstrate its robustness, especially with regard to the intangible dimension, e.g., the distance between a system potential and what it really offers. Practical implications The research shows the importance of system’s characteristics in its success. Social implications The social implications are very high, especially in this case, where micro-finance is a high stake for developing societies. Originality/value This is one of the first works to develop an econophysics approach for the evaluation of the key characteristics of a system.

scholarly journals The mobile phone as an argument for good governance in sub-Saharan Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 897-920 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simplice Asongu ◽  
Sara le Roux ◽  
Jacinta C. Nwachukwu ◽  
Chris Pyke
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Empirical Inquiry ◽  
Governance Indicators ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Mobile Phone Usage

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present theoretical and empirical arguments for the role of mobile telephony in promoting good governance in 47 sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2000–2012. Design/methodology/approach The empirical inquiry uses an endogeneity-robust GMM approach with forward orthogonal deviations to analyze the linkage between mobile phone usage and the variation in three broad governance categories – political, economic and institutional. Findings Three key findings are established: first, in terms of individual governance indicators, mobile phones consistently stimulated good governance by the same magnitude, with the exception of the effect on the regulation component of economic governance. Second, when indicators are combined, the effect of mobile phones on general governance is three times higher than that on the institutional governance category. Third, countries with lower levels of governance indicators are catching-up with their counterparts with more advanced dynamics. Originality/value The study makes both theoretical and empirical contributions by highlighting the importance of various combinations of governance indicators and their responsiveness to mobile phone usage.

African states hope the Gulf crisis will end soon

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Union ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gulf Countries ◽  
Political Effects ◽  
Gulf Crisis ◽  
Sub Saharan

Significance The split between Qatar and its neighbours has pushed a few small African countries to side with Saudi Arabia, but leaves the continent’s leading powers and several conflict-afflicted nations eager to stay neutral -- for now. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) -- where Gulf countries have strong diplomatic ties and major economic investments -- the crisis has had significant political effects. Impacts The withdrawal of Qatari peacekeepers from the Djibouti-Eritrea border will become a pressing concern for the African Union. Ongoing expulsions of African migrants from Saudi Arabia will complicate Saudi and Emirati efforts to find African partners against Qatar. Countries such as South Africa and Nigeria may begin to act more assertively in calling for neutrality.

International Collaboration in Distance Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 31-45
Author(s):  
Gbolagade Adekanmbi ◽  
Bopelo Boitshwarelo
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
International Collaboration ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Viable Approach ◽  
Collaborative Efforts ◽  
And Training

This chapter examines international collaboration in distance education in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), focusing on efforts aimed at utilizing technology. It identifies a number of significant collaborative endeavors. The collaborative efforts observed have a similar goal of pooling together ICT resources and expertise towards improving educational outcomes. The prevalence of teacher education and training across the initiatives, in the context of the Millennium Development Goals, is noted. Institutions outside Africa are actively involved in the funding and provision of expertise. Also, the AVU consortium model seems to be a viable approach to collaboration, with notable results seen. With the challenges facing technology-focused collaboration, such as a lack of enabling policies and the digital divide, the chapter suggests that African countries and institutions should pursue a culture of change and be more flexible. More formal training in distance education, utilizing Africans in the Diaspora and promoting dialogue across international spectrums are also recommended.

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