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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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The Ghanaian Prophet as an African Entrepreneur
| Panel |
12. African entrepreneurs and/in emerging markets: towards a situational understanding of entrepreneurial behaviour?
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| Paper ID | 61 |
| Author(s) |
Daswani, Girish
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | The ‘economic transformation’ and ‘development’ of Africa are popular catchphrases that many in Ghana simultaneously object to, criticise, and take on board to various degrees. The ‘myth’ of modernisation, commonly associated with ‘Western’ foreign directed policies, are seen to have failed to bring any real changes for many people on the ground. At the same time they have created new economic industries and certain expectations of change. What has widely been considered the effects of globalisation and the influence of ‘Western’ economic projects has also created a moral panic in recent years. In my paper I look closely at Ghanaian Prophets in Accra and compare them to religious entrepreneurs whose livelihood depend on their close association with the Judeo-Christian God, promises of economic development, and social networks that include politicians, market traders and business people. The ideas and practices of Pentecostal Christianity, seen as an ‘African initiative’, in some cases capitalises on the marginal position people see themselves in. I argue that economic disparity and certain moral expectations of change have allowed a creative space for a new form of entrepreneurship in the person of the Ghanaian Prophet. |
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