Africa’s next chapter will be built by institution-builders, not idea-havers

Africa does not have an ideas problem. We have entrepreneurs who understand their markets, young people developing innovative solutions, civil society organisations solving difficult social problems, universities producing capable graduates, municipalities seeking international partnerships and foundations delivering meaningful community impact. The harder question is what happens after the idea. I have sat across the table from a brilliant agribusiness founder in Greater Accra who could explain, from memory, the precise yield differences between maize varieties but had never produced the institutional documentation a financial institution would require before considering significant financing. I have reviewed a foundation doing genuine work across several regions but struggling to attract