The summit was hosted on the properties of the Rupert family, Richard Branson, Michael Jordaan in partnership with Oppenheimer Generations Philanthropy, Eric Schmidt Futures, Naspers Foundry and Prosper Africa, among others.
Harambeans, as members of the alliance are known, are African innovators who have pledged to “work together as one” to build Africa’s future.
Over the last decade, Harambeans has spawned a series of tech-enabled unicorns such as Andela, Flutterwave, and Go1, which have generated over 3,500 jobs and collectively raised over $1bn from venture capital funds like Google Ventures, CRE Ventures and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Market-creating innovators, as articulated by the late Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen and his Harambean co-author, Efosa Ojomo, in their book, The Prosperity Paradox, are entrepreneurs whose products and services do not just target the 80 million consumers in Africa’s middle class, but the 800 million underserved Africans who are not yet full participants in the global economy.
Harambeans seeks to leverage the knowledge, capital, and networks within the Alliance to accelerate the growth of African innovators. Towards this end, the Global Summit assessed the progress of market-creating innovation, shared learnings, and best practices pioneered by leading entrepreneurs and investors and strengthened partnerships in the growing coalition of market-creating innovators.
