YASMIN KUMI, H’16

Thinking Locally to Shape African Growth

As an experienced business consultant, Yasmin Kumi believed that sustainable African growth could be achieved through the support of locally-owned businesses. Yet economies of African countries are often dominated by multinational companies, with local businesses struggling to compete with these global giants. She set out to make a difference and launched Africa Foresight Group to provide opportunities for African businesses and to strengthen local economies.

“My vision is to be an African business woman, who stands for the extraordinary entrepreneurial ability of females and the empowerment of local people to shape their own economies.”

Sustainable African Growth

THE CHALLENGE. Multinational companies, mainly from the old colonial European powers and the United States, extract significant amounts of profits from local economies in Africa. These companies create employment, but often contribute little economic value that is kept in the continent since their headquarters are overseas. Countries such as Ghana need more locally owned businesses that are able to create sustainable economic development. There are myths about doing business in Africa that prohibit African growth, such as talent scarcity, unreliable market data, and risky investments, yet for many local economies, these myths are not truths. What local African businesses can benefit from is support, especially in the form of advising, mentorship, opportunities, and investment. The challenge was in addressing the lack of locally-owned competitive large businesses in Africa, to help foster sustainable economic development.

THE PROCESS. Raised in Germany by a German mother and Ghanaian father, Yasmin Kumi developed a kinship with her Ghanaian roots and a passion for fostering local economic value creation in Africa, and in Ghana in particular. With her background in business and experience as a consultant for McKinsey & Company, she knew of countries where family-owned businesses of considerable scale helped create competitive local economies. She wondered, could this type of business model for economic growth be applied to Ghana? Kumi believed in the transformational power of local African businesses and decided to found the first consulting company in Ghana to offer first-class strategy advisory to MBB-level (McKinsey, BCG and Bain) enterprises and sizable companies — services that were usually mostly accessible to multinational firms and public sector only. Her venture, Africa Foresight Group (AFG), launched in 2015 and provides market intelligence on African industries to investors and companies to help unlock the potential of local large companies from the continent. AFG’s talent model allows young graduates from African and international universities to get involved in rebuilding their home economies.

AFG disrupts the African business services sector by offering high quality at rates that are affordable for local clients. Services for African businesses and entrepreneurs include a Research Desk (providing data collection and analytics services), a Think Tank (collaboration and reports), Business Advisory (consultation, strategy, finance programs, and route-to-market services), and Data & Analytics (field data, PowerPoint design, and support for finance models). This robust service offering enables AFG to address three important gaps in the African business service sector: the demand for reliable and available market data, more visible platforms for the international promotion of local African businesses, and the opportunity to work with teams of experienced advisors.

THE RESULT. AFG has accumulated a substantial portfolio of clients since the venture launched in 2015. The flagship report of the AFG Think Tank, ‘African Champions: Emerging Global Enterprises’, contains an array of case studies on local champions and policies to illustrate the stage of local economic value creation in Africa. In 2017, Kumi won the first edition of the Authenticity Project for her work with AFG and the results her company is producing. The Authenticity Project has the objective of supporting emerging ventures in order to further their success. Kumi’s goal is for young Africans to look towards African entrepreneurs and local career opportunities instead of looking for a job with a multinational company. In this way, AFG will strengthen African pride.

LEARN MORE ABOUT AFRICA FORESIGHT GROUP

Africa Foresight Group is an African-owned and managed advisory firm with offices in London and Accra. AFG enhances the African business landscape by providing locally accessible, world-class insights and advisory services to grow local companies into global champions. The company primarily focuses on the consumer goods, agribusiness, and financial services sectors.

Source: Tom Saater for africaforesight.com

Becoming a Champion

ABOUT YASMIN KUMI

Enabling African Growth of Local Businesses into Global Champions

Yasmin Kumi holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Business Law from the European Business School Oestrich-Winkel, where she won entrance into the eXebs Fellowship, and spent a semester abroad at Seoul National University. She also has a Masters in African Studies and Business from Oxford, via the prestigious Oxford Pershing Square Scholarship. Prior to founding Africa Foresight Group, she gained valuable experience as a consultant for McKinsey & Company in Germany, focusing on clients in Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Kumi served as the Inaugural Executive Director for Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance and as President for the Oxford University Africa Society. She was recently listed as one of Diaspora Africa’s Top 10 Entrepreneurs of Influence by Africa Tech Summit.

The first time Kumi visited Ghana was at the age of 21. Since then, all professional decisions she takes are focused on contributing to the country’s sustainable growth. She is very determined to help create an economic environment in Ghana that enables young Africans to find attractive employment and entrepreneurial opportunities without having to leave their home country like her father had to.

“What I want to contribute to is sustainable economic growth. My company, Africa Foresight Group, will contribute to this by enabling African sizable businesses to capture value creation in their home countries, be competitive against foreign market entrants and make their own indigenous business models successful.”

Kumi and her team at AFG believe that access to high-quality market information can build a better ecosystem for building what they call “local champions”. The company provides the best available talent to address business challenges in the fields of strategy, marketing, and distribution, as well as access to finance, with the objective to make local African businesses competitive against foreign market entrants.

I AM A HARAMBEAN

Yasmin Kumi believes that Harambe is an Alliance of esteemed values:

“I believe that one, if not the most important success factor in building a venture, is to embed the idea in the right networks. The Alliance gives me access to a pool of outstanding entrepreneurs.


When success has endorsed the venture one is pursuing, there usually is a considerable number of networks and organisations with interest in one’s involvement. But when it comes to my values and mindset, I do not think that there is any other entrepreneurial organisation that I come to such a common ground with as the Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance.”

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