Transforming the African MBA shifting from copying to creating

There is a massive disconnect that fundamentally exists within African business education today. The classic MBA was built for markets driven by rough equilibrium and modest change. Yet Africa's growth and expansion are occurring amid persistent turbulence, enduring imbalances, intersecting intricate systems, and a collective drive for homegrown intellectual and technological power. An innovative African MBA must disrupt the culture of business schools, shifting from mimicking non-African models to inventing frameworks that speak to the nature of markets and economies across the continent.

- Dr Stephen Akandwanaho | Executive Dean | Faculty of IT | Richfield | [e-mail] |

The Volatility, Asymmetry, Constructive complexity, Sovereignty (VACS) framework provides a new paradigm for what a forward-looking, relevant MBA should embody in shaping the next generation of leadership, while positioning itself as an engine for transformation and growth.

Volatility

Leaders operate in stressful environments, locally and globally. Opportunity and pressure now sit side by side. According to Disrupt Africa's biennial report, Finnovating for Africa 2023,[1] African fintechs secured over $2.7 billion between July 2021 and June 2023, despite macro headwinds.

The graduate who flourishes here understands how to steady strategy amid turbulence and to see advantage in shocks. Volatility literacy must be a core learning outcome, i.e. train for disciplined experiments, decisions that are fast without being reckless, and for firms that survive the rough weeks as well as the good ones.

Asymmetry

Africa’s markets remain uneven by design. A mechanic in a township orders spare parts through a voice-message app while a corporate fleet captain monitors predictive-maintenance dashboards.

These contrasts are not contradictions to be reconciled; they are the contours of everyday commerce. Most African startups fail not because the ideas are weak, but because management practices are fragile and systems are flimsy. In South Africa, the informal sector is a lifeline for 19.8% of the workforce,[2] even though it contributes only 6% to gross domestic product (GDP).