How Partnerships between African and European Entrepreneurs Can Support the UN Post-2015 Development Agenda

Abstract

This article discusses how the private sector, and here specifically African–European partnerships between entrepreneurs, can assist to attain the development goals formulated by the United Nations’ Post-2015 Agenda for Sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on meetings between African and European entrepreneurs convened on the initiative of H. E. Prof. Dr. Horst Köhler, former President of the Federal Republic of Germany and former Managing Director of the IMF, we will discuss the private sector's role for the UN development agenda in the African context from the perspectives of participants of these meetings. More specifically, we will outline the contribution of the business sector in Africa to the creation of employment, education, job opportunities and training for young people, ecological sustainability, economic diversification and a supportive climate for start-ups. However, to enable these contributions, entrepreneurs are calling for favorable policies, reliable institutions, access to financial services and a good infrastructure. On this basis, equitable partnerships between African and European entrepreneurs can be formed to foster sustainable development in Africa.

Keywords:

• United Nations
• international partnership
• entrepreneurs
• economic policy

Notes on contributors

Dr Helene Tenzer is Assistant Professor in the Department of International Business at the University of Tübingen School of Business and Economics. Her current research is on the impact of language barriers on international business, multinational teams, leadership in multinational organizations and foreign subsidiary management. She has published on these topics in outlets such as Journal of International Business Studies, Leadership Quarterly, Schmalenbach Business Review and Asian Business and Management. She received a research award by the Academy of Management and numerous scholarships, among others from the German National Academic Foundation and the Robert Bosch Foundation. She has also founded a research network on language issues in management with currently around 100 international members.

Professor Markus Pudelko is Director of the Department of International Business at the University of Tübingen School of Business and Economics and Vice Dean as well as Associate Dean for International Affairs of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences. His current research is on headquarters-subsidiary relationships, multinational teams, the impact of language on international business, international and comparative HRM and cross-cultural management. He has published on these topics in outlets such as Journal of International Business Studies, Human Resource Management, Long Range Planning and Journal of World Business. He received several research awards, among others by the Academy of Management and the Academy of International Business. At the University of Tübingen he has developed and still runs the “M.Sc. in International Business (Africa)”, the only university degree programme in Germany focusing on business in Africa. He also teaches, together with the former President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Prof. Horst Köhler, the course “Doing Business in Africa”. For more information, please visit: www.uni-tuebingen.de/wiwi/ib