Paper short abstract:

We aim to understand how the managers linking Ethiopia’s female workers to global value chains understand these workers' wellbeing. To move from a ‘compliance culture’ to a ‘wellbeing culture’, a culturally- and historically-informed discussion that looks beyond the 'business case' is needed.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to understand how the managers who link Ethiopia’s female workers to global value chains (GVCs) understand these workers' wellbeing. The country’s strategy to position itself as the new frontier of low-wage labour has sparked the rapid insertion of part of its agrarian workforce into two export industries: horticulture (particularly cut flowers) and apparel. The nature of the transformation to their circumstances that these workers have experienced is subject to debate: scholars and policymakers agree that GVCs should deliver improvements not only to countries’ macroeconomic situations but also to the lives of affected workers and communities—or ‘social upgrading’. But there is considerable disagreement on the extent to which this is feasible and occurring in practice. This is partly, we argue, because few studies have elicited the perspectives of managers at firm level, despite the crucial role that this group plays in connecting global buyers to local production. As a result, it is often assumed that these actors primarily respond mechanistically to financial (dis)incentives such as the ‘business case’ (greater profits in exchange for compliance). Our analysis of 38 qualitative interviews demonstrates that foreign and Ethiopian managers bring to their positions a number of assumptions shaped by their own countries' experiences of industrialization. This is especially true when wellbeing is conceptualised not only as immediate working conditions, but also extended relationally and temporally. To move beyond a ‘compliance culture’ to a ‘wellbeing culture’ at the bottom of precarious GVCs, a complex, culturally- and historically-informed discussion beyond the business case is needed.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the growing African development finance industry by analysing Nigerian entrepreneurs' experiences with impact investing. Highlighting struggles to access sustainable financing, the paper details the recreation of social hierarchies and inequalities entrenched in development.

Paper long abstract:

In recent years, growing global emphasis has been placed on the importance of widening the marketplace for development financing (Mawdsley, 2016), with particular focus on models like impact investing in African markets (GIIN, 2016). However, despite expansion of ideologies like ‘Africa rising’ and ‘Africapitalism’, most literature focuses on how financiers (private equity funds, institutional investors) are changing the African development eco-system (Watts and Scales, 2020) with little scholarly or policy-focused attention placed on the demand-side of African impact investing. This paper highlights findings from a recent mixed-methods study by the Cambridge Judge Business School, revealing key insights from Nigerian business owners who seek sustainable social financing. While there are notable success stories, this paper reveals considerable challenges and long-term sustainability issues that Nigerian social entrepreneurs face despite seemingly having access to new frontiers in financing. The paper further explores how entrenched social and financial hierarchies prevalent in traditional development (international aid, philanthropy) are in many ways recreated through impact investing models, even more so when considering the small size of the average impact investments in Nigerian businesses. Through gender and geographical lenses, the picture becomes even more challenging, as women and entrepreneurs in rural areas continue to face considerable hurdles in access to impact investments. When considering the future of Nigerian development financing, this paper argues that substantial advances can be made through impact investment, however, greater importance must be placed on elevating demand-side priorities and increased learning from the local experiences.

Paper short abstract:

Through describing and categorizing different responsible sourcing initiatives, including on dimensions such as participation, transparency, and accountability, we lay the groundwork for further research on the participation of local actors in the design and governance of transnational initiatives.

Paper long abstract:

Ethical supply-chain initiatives, such as mandatory human rights due diligence (mHRDD) and responsible sourcing initiatives for minerals, are rapidly multiplying, the result of a “new global foreign accountability norm” (Partzsch, 2016). In the EU, 2021 legislation makes it a requirement for corporations to undertake human rights and environmental due diligence for minerals from “conflict-affected and high-risk areas”. Numerous initiatives have been set up - including by companies themselves - to help corporations mitigate negative human rights, environmental or labour impacts along their supply chains. We provide a comprehensive overview of initiatives, programs, and projects created by different supply-chain actors in response to growing concerns around “conflict minerals” from eastern DRC and, more recently, booming demand for cobalt from the Congolese provinces of Haut-Katanga and Lualaba. The DRC and its vast mineral resources - highly sought after on international markets for, most recently, electric vehicles - have been the epicentre and inspiration for many of these programs and initiatives. Such narratives have turned the DRC into a “laboratory” for corporate-led “ethical supply chain” initiatives (Autesserre, 2012). The impact on the ground in terms of reducing conflict and human rights violations has been ambiguous and points to contestation and reworking. Through describing and categorizing responsible sourcing initiatives, including on dimensions like participation, transparency, and accountability, we lay the groundwork for further research on local actors' participation in the design and governance of transnational initiatives. We first examine if/how different initiatives have conceived of and implemented measures to encourage participation by those upstream.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation explores how financial innovations developed on the African continent are bringing together a new constellation of devices, landscapes, institutions, currencies, households, and investors to create a novel form of urban housing finance in Senegal.

Paper long abstract:

In December of 2021, Senegal’s sovereign wealth fund, FONSIS, announced its partnership with the International Financial Corporation (IFC), to form a special-purpose financing vehicle, Kajom Capital, to address the urban housing crisis in Dakar. Kajom—which means “future” or “tomorrow” in Diola—aims to facilitate “access to property for all” by making rent-to-own housing contracts available to residents in both formal and informal employment. And these contracts for future revenue streams will then be pooled as financial assets available for purchase by private institutional investors. An increasing array of scholars are now arguing that the growth of such financial arrangements in the Global South is a new form of an old, familiar process of American-style financialization. Yet this framing doesn’t quite capture what is at stake in financial devices like Kajom Capital: such devices bring together African financial institutions, African currencies, African households, and African investors to create a novel form of urban housing finance on the continent. And as a financial device aimed at solving urban problems, the creation of Kajom Capital raises a number of concerns for the study of cities. For example, will the introduction of this device mark a shift in how poor people in Dakar access housing? And how do Senegalese financial experts understand the risks of experimenting in West Africa with a financial technique once at the center of a “global financial crisis” ?

Paper short abstract:

This study examines adoption, intensity of use & reasons behind mobile money usage in Ghana. Results provide insights on what drives adoption decisions & usage intensity, contributing to the literature on digitalization & Fintech in SSA & providing implications for fintech policies.

Paper long abstract:

This study examines the drivers of adoption, intensity of adoption, and qualitative reasons behind adoption and non-adoption of mobile money services among the economically active population in Ghana. Mobile money prevalence in Ghana is high, with 38.5 million registered accounts and 17.1 million active accounts by the end of 2020. The increasing adoption of mobile money in Ghana is partly linked to the mobile money interoperability implemented by the central bank in 2018, which allows for transactions across different telecommunication networks and linking mobile money to traditional bank accounts. The study aims to fill an empirical gap on the factors influencing the adoption intensity of electronic payment services, contributing to the broader literature of digitalization and FINTECH in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and providing implications for public attitudes towards fintech policies such as the Electronic levy in Ghana. This study will help service providers, regulators, policymakers and other stakeholders to understand not only what drive adoption decisions but also the intensity of use, which is more informative when adoption rates reach or surpass a critical mass.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the role of credit in structuring the relation between rice farmers and rice millers in Gulu in northern Uganda. The analysis draws Graeber’s (2011) view that debt ties parties to each other and becomes a moral problem that structures the relationship.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores how credit structures the relation between local rice millers and rice farmers in and around Gulu in northern Uganda. Rice millers in Gulu compete over rice supply from farmers, and therefore offer various types of inputs and services to attract farmers. Some of the services are provided for free, while some are provided on credit or combined with credit. Credit is the only way for the millers to tie the farmers to their mill, but it is also risky, since the farmers might take the rice to another miller, thus defaulting on the credit. Some farmers accept the credit offered, while others choose not to. This paper draws on Graeber’s (2011) view of debt as an exchange relation that has not been brought to conclusion. In this ‘in-between’ situation, when the debt is not yet settled, the parties cannot walk away from the relationship and debt becomes a moral problem that structures the relationship. This paper analyses how the introduction of credit changes and structures the relation between millers and farmers. It analyses how both parties view the relationship, with and without credit, and how credit affects expectations, responsibilities, and power dynamics between the parties. The study is based on qualitative interviews with both millers and farmers.

Paper short abstract:

Several foreign mining companies have profited financially from holding mining rights over the Simandou iron ore reserves in Guinea without ever actually mining them. The ability to sue the state in international arbitration made their property rights more constraining than host-stranger relations.

Paper long abstract:

Simandou mountain chain in Guinea contains the biggest unexploited high-quality iron ore reserves in the world. The French colonial regime, Soviet Union, Mitsubishi, Rio Tinto, Chinalco, Vale, Beny Steinmetz Group (BSGR) and Société Minière de Boké have all successively explored and planned to exploit it. However, no iron has been mined to date. The inhabitants of the Simandou mountain chain have hoping that the construction of the mine would bring jobs and modern amenities, just as the Guinean government has been hoping tax revenue and development. Even if not dug, the projected mine has, however, allowed investors to capitalize on the mining prospects, and so largely thanks to guarantees offered by investor-state arbitration. In 2007, Rio Tinto fended off a US$142bn hostile takeover by BHP Billiton by claiming Simandou to be undervalued in its books. In 2011, BSGR sold its rights to half of the reserve to Vale for US$2.5bn and once the Guinean government had revoked its concession based on corruption charges, the company simply sued the country in investment arbitration. At the same time, Simandou inhabitants’ attempts to leverage their position as local landlords to get the mine to open and bring them tribute failed. Based on ethnography in Guinea and France and analysis of submissions in the various litigations and arbitrations to which this saga has given rise, this presentation shows how different parties’ ability to extract financial value from a mine is conditioned by the scalar strength of their respective property titles.

Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I will discuss interactions between the temporalities of global finance, critics, local residents and authorities in the case of a large-scale (agricultural) land investment in Zambia. This will provide additional insights into the impact and development of resource extraction.

Paper long abstract:

Off the main road from Lusaka to the west of Zambia, a large-scale agricultural investment appears in between scattered settlements after a two-hours ride from the regional capital. It is the fruit of European investors, who started the project in 2012. They hoped to make a profit, alike many financiers who turned to investing in land, particularly also on the African continent, after the global financial and food crises in 2008.

Ten years later, it is evident that the investment has not lived up to its promises – both in financial terms and regarding the alleged benefits local residents would gain from it. To better understand the discrepancies between initial expectations and developments later in time, this paper will analyse various temporalities. It will show that there are not only tensions between temporal dimensions of finance and agriculture, but also that other actors (indirectly) involved operate according to particular temporal dynamics. For example, the attention of NGOs and media devoted to the investment has fluctuated over time, while (local) stakeholders, including neighbouring rural residents and state institutions, do also not follow a unilinear path of involvement – and refrain, for instance, from enforcing the agribusiness to honour agreements along the line. Through analysing these temporalities over time, this paper aims to contribute to an understanding of the impact and trajectories of resource extraction. Accordingly, broader lessons can be drawn about the ambiguous potential for mitigating negative effects of large-scale land acquisitions – and corporate practices more generally.