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Paper short abstract:

African big business is playing an important role in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic. This paper assesses the operations and strategies of African big business during the pandemic. Three case studies will be assessed: Dangote Group in Nigeria, Ecobank in Togo and MTN in South Africa

Paper long abstract:

African governments have received an unexpected helping hand from African big business in their response to the Covid-19 pandemic. African big business has stepped-up to ensure not only the health and well-being of their employees, customers, suppliers and communities but also to support the broader fight against the pandemic. African big business are emerging across the continent and challenging many of the global multinationals that have dominated the market since colonial times. They have gained scale, skills and capabilities that put them on par with their counterparts in other parts of the world. Africa is home to many large and understudied big business, with around 400 companies with more than USD$1 billion in revenue, that have been growing rapidly in the last few decades. African big business is increasingly regional and pan-African; and many of them have diversified to other global markets. While nearly half of Africa’s big business is based in South Africa, it is now emerging rapidly in other sub-regions, particularly from Morocco and Nigeria. They come from a variety of sectors, ranging from technology, retail, media, financial services, metals & mining, agriculture and telecommunications reflecting their scale, growing dynamism and transformation of African economies. This paper will critically debate the role of African big business and their response to the pandemic situation to shed some light about their operations and strategies. Three case studies will be assessed: Dangote Group in Nigeria, Ecobank in Togo and MTN in South Africa.