Private Enterprise Development

There are many reasons why Africa’s development experience so far has generated new interest in the role of the private sector. In the first place, African governments have come to the conclusion that, while the African crisis is the result of several internal and external causes, the most serious of the internal causes is the very low level of productivity that pervades all sectors of African economies. Secondly, there is a general belief that a vital explanation of the low level of production is poor and inefficient management.

On these two counts, the expectation is that a greater role for the private business sector, where the profit incentive and the motivation of self-interest provide powerful incentives for efficient management and sustained increase in productivity, will increase the dynamism of the sector and enable it to make a far greater contribution to African development than was the case in the past.

PANAFCON offers specialist advisory services and technical support in this area, covering the total industry sector of a country, specific regions, branches or crafts. These integrated planning services comprise institutional as well as legal aspects and include the determination of the most appropriate policy instruments in such areas as investment promotion, fiscal incentives, customs legislation, etc.