Naming the elephant on the table: a case for Africa
Kwame Boateng & Ije Ikoku, WG'05 & WG'06
Issue date: 4/18/05 Section: Perspectives
One of Wharton's objectives is to prepare students to operate in different environments. As we move towards the future, emerging economies in Africa, Asia, and South America are going to be increasingly influential in the business world and in our careers. Prof. Jeremy Siegel in his op-ed in the WSJ three weeks ago said that "today the developing countries, despite comprising 87% of the world's population, produce less than one-quarter of the world's output measured in dollars. It is likely that by the middle of this century, they will produce over half the world's GDP. Indeed, the growth of these economies will become the dominating factor in the world's capital markets."
With such a backdrop, one would expect Wharton to progress in the direction of this changing business environment. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. The class of '06 will be wrapping up their core curriculum in a couple of weeks, and they are yet to see a single case on business in emerging economies. The class of '05 will be graduating in about a month and they too have very little exposure to issues in currently less industrialized nations.
With the exception of a few features on current healthcare issues, Africa in particular has barely been mentioned in the Wharton curriculum. This represents a missed opportunity for Wharton to further expose students to the increasingly attractive business environment in Africa.
Most students are unaware, for instance, that amid bearish performance of developed stock markets over the past years, several leading African stock markets in Ghana, Egypt, Botswana, Nigeria and Uganda have bucked the negative trend and recorded solid triple digit performance. Since year-end 2001, African stock markets on average have accumulated index returns of 127% in US dollar terms led by Ghana with a whopping return of 564%, which is the highest in the world over the period. These positive trends, coupled with Africa's low correlation to world markets make investment in the region attractive for portfolio diversification.
With such a backdrop, one would expect Wharton to progress in the direction of this changing business environment. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. The class of '06 will be wrapping up their core curriculum in a couple of weeks, and they are yet to see a single case on business in emerging economies. The class of '05 will be graduating in about a month and they too have very little exposure to issues in currently less industrialized nations.
With the exception of a few features on current healthcare issues, Africa in particular has barely been mentioned in the Wharton curriculum. This represents a missed opportunity for Wharton to further expose students to the increasingly attractive business environment in Africa.
Most students are unaware, for instance, that amid bearish performance of developed stock markets over the past years, several leading African stock markets in Ghana, Egypt, Botswana, Nigeria and Uganda have bucked the negative trend and recorded solid triple digit performance. Since year-end 2001, African stock markets on average have accumulated index returns of 127% in US dollar terms led by Ghana with a whopping return of 564%, which is the highest in the world over the period. These positive trends, coupled with Africa's low correlation to world markets make investment in the region attractive for portfolio diversification.