Out of Africa: What Innovation in Africa Can Teach the Business World

Panelist:

Jonathan Bloom, Deputy Vice President, Department of Compact Implementation, Millennium Challenge Corporation

Acting as a one man show because of the last minute absence of 2 of the 3 panelists due to travel delays and the blizzard in DC, Jonathan Bloom presented engaging commentary on the Millennium Challenge Corporation's (MCC) work with businesses and governments in Africa. MCC's work is focused on poverty reduction through economic development. While Bloom highlighted the need for financial solutions ranging from traditional lending to microfinance, he stressed that before finance comes entrepreneurs, and before entrepreneurs comes markets. "The difficulty in Africa," he said, "is that the economies are sub-scale."

Citing examples as diverse as banks in Tanzania, an increasingly mechanized pineapple plantation in Ghana, and the development of a water treatment system in Mozambique, Bloom is encouraged by the increasing level of innovation and economic development he sees across the continent. The MCC must agree, as it works with more countries in Africa than in any other part of the world.