Building an Understanding of African Philanthropy in Higher Education
Antony Mbandi, MA, Head of Partnerships and Alumni Relations, Strathmore University Business School
African philanthropy has a huge potential to become the catalyst of growth on the African continent if well channeled and utilized. According to the World Wealth Report 2024, the financial wealth of HNW individuals in Africa reached over USD 1.8 trillion in 2023, 120 percent higher than the USD 0.8 trillion in African HNW individuals’ wealth in 2008 (Capgemini Research Institute, 2024). The number of African HNW individuals more than doubled from 2008 to 2023.
With the rise of new wealth, African philanthropy is beginning to take a central role in development and sustainability and is increasingly informing policy processes at national levels. For example, in 2009 the government of Liberia established the Liberia Philanthropy Secretariat—a platform for linking national priorities with philanthropic resources (Kanani, 2011). In 2015, the African Union launched the African Union Foundation to mobilize voluntary contributions in support of the Africa Agenda 2063.¹ It is important to note that philanthropic institutions across Africa often do not make reference to the Africa Agenda 2063 but are focused on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which they foresee as a source of possible funding from the West.
Sampling some regions in Africa, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is in the process of developing a framework for the inclusion of philanthropic activities in supporting its regional integration agenda (Southern Africa Trust, 2016), while the Rwandese government has developed a strategy to engage philanthropy in implementing Vision 2020 (Moyo, Nkhalamba, & Kagoro, 2010). In South Africa, the National Treasury and Department of Science has conducted studies mapping current collaborations between philanthropy and government, primarily in areas of education and health. The result is the development of a mechanism or strategy for government to formally collaborate with philanthropy in a coherent way. Kenya and Ghana have collaborated with the United Nations Development Programme in its Post-2015 Partnership Platform for Philanthropy to establish their own philanthropy platforms (Grady, 2015). It is crucial to reframe the statement of “closing the space for civil society” with opening the space for philanthropy to thrive. As this happens, it is clear that Africa is not ready yet in terms of capacity, policy framework, and shift in development thinking. But the time is ripe to change approaches, especially with a new generation of Africans who are growing in wealth and with a sense of nationalism.
Some individuals have transformed the philanthropy space in Africa: for example, Tony Elumelu created the idea of Africapitalism as a way of rallying African-led solutions to social development. Tony Elumelu first introduced the term Africapitalism in 2011 and has since outlined the concept in leading media outlets across the Western world. The concept is one of the four pillars of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF).² In addition, TEF has established the Africapitalism Institute, a pan-African think tank dedicated to the promotion of the philosophy through applied research with an inclination to the transformative role that the private sector can undertake in developing Africa. Examples of other individuals who have applied a Western approach to philanthropy include Strive Masiyiwa who supports young entrepreneurs, Mo Ibrahim who supports good governance, and Hasmukh Patel who is involved in education and humanitarian assistance. Mr. Patel’s work is well documented, having used his vast resources from Mombasa Cement to feed the hungry and homeless in Mombasa.³
Efforts by a number of African Philanthropists have focused on improving education and creating opportunities for youth through seed capital. These initiatives are celebrated, but not clearly structured under a framework that is well recognized by the context of our culture, which views giving as a private agenda. Structured giving needs transparency and accountability and hence public participation, which from an African cultural perspective is seen as a show of opulence. It is also important to note that initiatives such as the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the Mo Ibrahim Leadership Award have also been structured with studies driven by universities in the northern hemisphere and therefore may not reflect a functional setup in the African context.