Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on captains of commerce and industry of African origins' attempts to decolonize/deracialize capitalism in the context of Black Business. It looks at how they have struggled, against ideological and racial odds, to Africanize capital for their own benefit and that of Global Africa.

Paper long abstract:

This paper revisits the intertwined processes of deracialization and decolonization as they unfolded in the context of capitalism and colonialism in the long 20th century. It argues that, although both capitalism and colonialism are racial systems, dismantling them through deracialization, as luring as it is, has been marred with limitations stemming from their colonial coupling. As such, colonial racial capitalism remains intact globally in the 21st century. One of the conspicuous areas in which racial capitalist coloniality continues is that of Black business, despite various attempts by captains of commerce and industry in Africa and its Diaspora across the centuries to Africanize capital and labor relations. Employing radical Black political economy, therefore, enables one to make sense of why and how, historically and contemporarily, ‘Black entrepreneurs of African descent’ worldwide have generally not fared well in establishing and sustaining big business relative to those of ‘Euro-American’ origins.