Welcome to “AfriCAN” - the can-do continent, the vast, vibrant, and diverse continent offering a wealth of human and natural resources that translate into opportunities for business - your business.

Complicated? Not necessarily. Africa, with all its diversity and largesse, can be difficult to understand and to grasp. Just like most new business ventures. However, successful business in Africa is as straightforward as ABC: Appetite, Bandwidth, and Capital.

It starts with growing an appetite to actually go and build a well-rounded understanding of the reality on the ground today, of who your customers are and what they need, distinguishing between real and perceived risks, and identifying accurate market intelligence.

Then you’ll understand the bandwidth successful companies give their Africa-focused teams to build relationships and to learn how culture and history influence business, the first place to start your business, and to identify the best type of market entry and business setup.

With the right appetite and bandwidth, you’ll make better decisions regarding capital, which is about more than just the money to run the business. Successful companies invest in social capital, cultural capital, and economic capital.

Throughout the book, you’ll find stories of entrepreneurs, local companies, and global companies - some that have gotten it right and others that did not.

Based on the author’s 30 years of wisdom, successes, experiences, mistakes, stories, and friends she acquired working and living across the continent of Africa, this book challenges perceived ideas of Africa. It is a call to go beyond the imagery of the past and to explore, embrace, and invest in “AfriCAN” - the can-do continent.