This book is built on fifteen years of experience in capacity building for African small and medium agro-enterprises through the "Making Markets Matter" training program. The authors recognize that the African business environment for SMEs presents unique challenges and opportunities that may not respond well to "standard" business management tools. To address this issue, this book captures local political, economic, social, and cultural realities that influence how agribusiness SMEs operate in Africa. Focusing on a host of management topics ranging from marketing to business strategy, from human resource management to family business, the book provides rich detail, gleaned from extensive interactions with African SMEs on the ground. Targeting a wide audience, this book is written in a clear, accessible, and easy to understand language. The "Making Markets Matter" guide should be especially informative to entrepreneurs - current and potential - as well as managers. Further, it should be a useful read for anyone working with agribusiness SMEs as a service provider or business partner, or for academics in charge of agribusiness training programs. It is our hope that, in addition to being a useful reference, this book will be an important starting point of for conversations about how to create successful agribusinesses in Africa.
About the Author: Ralph D. Christy is the founder of Market Matters, Inc. and is Director of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development and Professor of Emerging Markets at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he teaches and conducts food marketing research and educational programs on the economic performance of markets and distribution systems. Mohammad Karaan is a graduate of Stellenbosch University, where he obtained a BS in Agriculture in 1987, an MS in 1993, and a PhD in 2003. He joined the Development Bank of Southern Africa in Johannesburg as an economist and later returned to Stellenbosch to join the Rural Foundation as Head of Research. In 1997 he joined the University of Stellenbosch as a lecturer in the Agricultural Faculty, where he has served as Dean of the Faculty of AgriSciences and Vice-Rector. Edward Mabaya is an academic and a development practitioner. He is involved in several programs that seek to improve the lives of African farmers through private enterprises. He conducts research on food marketing and distribution, seed systems, and the role of efficient agricultural markets in Africa's economic development. He is Associate Director of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture, and Development. He earned his MS and PhD degrees in Agricultural Economics at Cornell University and his BS from the University of Zimbabwe. Krisztina Tihanyi divides her time between the 'real world' and academia. At Market Matters Inc. she is chief operating officer and coordinates the organization's agribusiness training portfolio and publication activities. Her background includes degrees in Psychology, International Peace Studies, and Anthropology. A PhD graduate of Cornell University, she has a keen interest in developing educational programs that lead to social and economic transformation. She has written the book Blending in the Rainbow Nation (2006) (an account of post-Apartheid reconciliation and racial integration in South Africa) and co-edited the volume Case Studies of Emerging Farmers and Agribusinesses in South Africa (2011).